"This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made LONDON: ROBERT HARDWICKE, 192, PICCADILLY. PREFACE. A “Is SHORT correspondence with Mr. Spence on the question discussed in the sixth chapter of his work, "The American Union," Secession a Constitutional Right?" led me into a closer inquiry than I had originally intended. The result is seen in the following pages. If they have any merit, it is that I have studiously avoided originality of opinion. The question is essentially one for appeal to authority. What did the framers of the Constitution themselves mean, and how was that document understood by their contemporaries? Hence the profuseness of quotation from the letters, speeches, and works of the leading men of the Revolution. I have referred to the Essays in the |