I don't mean to imply that a request for secession would win. The process of 
asking to secede is legally viable under X and XI Amendments -- you, the 
state, can peacefully petition our government for anything. Practically, 
secession is "dead" for our times. Don't count on that should you find a way 
back several centuries hence.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Kiracofe" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: New Subject Va Almost Got It Right


Mr Waddell: Secession is not legally viable (for any state--regardless of 
what Texans or Vermonters or Youpers want to claim) under the United States' 
system of laws--someone else will have to supply the specific court case 
which slips my mind We went over this issue on the VA-HIST a few months ago.

The Articles of Confederation were voided by the ratification in the states 
of the new Constitution--the Continental Congress (or Confederation 
Congress) simply ceased to meet, unable to achieve a quorum by October of 
1788--and the Constitution of 1787 superceded the earlier structure.

I'm not sure who in Virginia in April 1861, with war already commenced 
(whether one wanted to blame Lincoln or the South Carolinians for bringing 
that on), believed that secession could proceed along a peaceful course, but 
I can imagine some politicians convincing themselves they could find a 
"middle way."

David Kiracofe

David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136
>>> Walter Waddell <[log in to unmask]> 06/19/07 9:19 AM >>>
Absent violent actions against Federal officials and property, the peaceful
process to secede remains a viable argument, but probably not a winnable one
in the end. After all the Articles of Confederation contained the word
"perpetual" which was "blown away" by practical needs. In 1861, Virginia was
on the road to a "peaceful process", but the violent acts by "hot heads",
among so many other considerations and issues for the times,  sealed it as
null and void.

Have I stated anything that is without any substance whatsoever?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Philip Adams" <[log in to unmask]>


> How about Vermont wanting to secede.


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