Did the Confederates have a right to secede?

Question:If they voluntarily joined, doesn't that give them the right to voluntarily secede. The same arguments found in Common Sense and other Revolutionary rhetoric against the King of England could be used by them against the central government in Washington.... shouldn't it?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If they voluntarily joined, doesn't that give them the right to voluntarily secede. The same arguments found in Common Sense and other Revolutionary rhetoric against the King of England could be used by them against the central government in Washington.... shouldn't it?

yes...

Read the Deceleration of independence.

yes, it's the same right the colonies used on england.

yea they did, the union pushed them until they could stand it, the north "said" they didnt believe in slavery but they used the south "as slaves" and the north used slaves in the war (unlike the south) and imported slaves even after they said it was wrong.

long live the south, and its heritage not hate

They felt at the time that they had a right to secede. That they were left with no other choice. By 1860 sectional disagreements between North and South revolved primarily around the maintenance or expansion of slavery. Related and intertwined issues also fueled the dispute; these secondary differences (real or perceived) included tariffs, agrarianism vs. industrialization, and states rights. The immediate spark for secession was the victory of the Republican Party and the election of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election.

Yes. On land, the US was denying what it had claimed in 1776. At sea, it was claiming what it had denied in 1812.

The Pledge of Allegiance reads "One nation...indivisible..." That pretty much sums up the Union's view on secession. The Confederates compared it to a gentleman's club. When the club began getting involved with the private affairs of it's members, then one could leave.

In 1868 the Supreme Court decided Texas Vs White and the issue of a state seceding from the Union. Basically the decision said that once a state joins, it can't leave. To quote from the summary:

"The Union of the States never was a purely artificial and arbitrary relation. It began among the Colonies, and grew out of common origin, mutual sympathies, kindred principles, similar interests, and geographical relations. It was confirmed and strengthened by the necessities of war, and received definite form and character and sanction from the Articles of Confederation. By these, the Union was solemnly declared to "be perpetual." And, when these Articles were found to be inadequate to the exigencies of the country, the Constitution was ordained "to form a more perfect Union."

The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.

When Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.

The State did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the Union."

To translate:

1. The Constitution is cannot be discarded and neither can the United States be broken by secession.

2. The Articles of Confederation said the union of the states was forever and the concept was not discarded when the Constitution was adopted. Therefore, a state cannot secede.

3. By joining the United States a state agrees to a union that is: "complete, ... perpetual, and ...indissoluble"

4. Texas and the rest of the Confederacy did not cease to be a State, nor her citizens to be citizens of the United States.

This is a funny question.
Like all political matters, it comes down to one's will and ability to back up decisions with military force.

The north won. End of story.
If the south had won, then, sure - they would have had the right to secede.