“It’s About the Power, Stupid”
By Greg Weiner
“Secessionism is Baked Into the American System”
By Susan McWilliams Barndt
By Laura Field
“It’s About the Power, Stupid”
By Greg Weiner
“Secessionism is Baked Into the American System”
By Susan McWilliams Barndt
By Laura Field
The word “secession” does not appear in any of the ratifying documents of the 14 states which held conventions and ratified the Constitution. See Elliot’s Debates, Vol. 1, pp. 319-338. Some states [such as Massachusetts] had proto-10th Amendment language: “That it be explicitly declared that all powers not expressly delegated by the aforesaid Constitution are reserved to the several states, to be by them exercised” attached to their ratification documents, but it doubtful that the states were reserving a right to secession.