{"id":130,"date":"2012-12-28T21:01:04","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T21:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=130"},"modified":"2012-12-28T21:01:04","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T21:01:04","slug":"article-commentary-on-secession-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"Article & commentary on Secession"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Guest writer<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nation divisible<\/h1>\n
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U.S. states remain sovereign<\/h3>\n

\nBy LOY MAUCH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

LITTLE ROCK<\/span> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Much has been
\nwritten and discussed on the issue of secession petitions in the past
\nfew weeks, and it seems that very few citizens on either side of the
\nargument understand the facts concerning this right. The first and
\nforemost truth that should be acknowledged regarding this topic is the
\nverdict of secession being legal or illegal. Since this issue comes
\nunder the jurisdiction of the American Constitution, let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start in
\n1776.<\/p>\n

After a long train of tyrannical acts by England, the colonists
\nstarted seriously discussing a separation from the British empire. As we
\nshould all know by now, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of
\nIndependence, which offered a legal defense for secession. Mr. Jefferson
\nplainly stated: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That whenever any Form of Government becomes
\ndestructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to
\nabolish it, and to institute new Government. . . .\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Most people only
\nread the preamble to this magnificent American document, but one needs
\nto read it completely to fully understand what the colonists were
\nrightfully aggrieved over and their need for a secession from England.<\/p>\n

After winning our War of Independence, the now-sovereign states
\ndrafted and ratified the Articles of Confederation as their newly formed
\ngovernment, our first Union. Note that not one state was coerced into
\njoining this confederacy. The Articles of Confederation stated that it
\nwould form a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perpetual union,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but the union it created was not
\nperpetual. It lasted from March 1, 1781, until all the states that were
\nmembers of it had seceded from it to form a new union under the
\nConstitution of 1787. Again, not one state was coerced into joining the
\nnew union or remaining a sovereign state.<\/p>\n

After nine states, individually and not collectively, had ratified
\nthe Constitution of 1787, this new government was now the law of the
\nland, but recognized only by those states that ratified it in their
\nrespective state conventions. Furthermore several states specifically
\nreserved in their state constitutions the right of secession, and this
\nreservation, according to the rules of law, was ensured to the benefit
\nof the other states as well. A denial of the right of secession is a
\ndenial of sovereignty, and secession was an obvious power reserved to
\nthe states under the 10th Amendment.<\/p>\n

A definitive explanation of all of this is a book titled A View of
\nthe Constitution, written by federal abolitionist judge, William Rawle
\nof Pennsylvania, who was a contemporary of George Washington and
\nBenjamin Franklin and their personal friend. Mr. Rawle devotes an entire
\nchapter on how a state may lawfully secede from the American Union. He
\nplainly states that this event is decided by the will of the people of
\ntheir respective states and not by Congress or a president. Also,
\nArticle VI of the Constitution articulates \u00e2\u20ac\u0153that this Constitution . . .
\nshall be the supreme Law of the Land.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Most people wrongly consider that the war in 1861 settled the issue
\nof secession forever. According to Article V of the Constitution, only
\nthree-fourths of the several states can ratify or alter this document,
\nnot the U.S. military, the president, Congress or the judiciary. In
\nother words, if secession was legal before the Civil War, it still is
\ntoday. Also, for any action to be deemed as unlawful, it must be
\ncodified in law. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why we have elected representatives at the state
\nand federal level; to make certain actions illegal such as murder,
\narson, robbery, speeding, texting while driving, etc. According to my
\nstudy of American history, no Congress yet has made it a crime to agree
\nwith Thomas Jefferson.<\/p>\n

Secession is a political divorce, and no union, whether it be a
\nmarriage, business partnership, or union of states is irrevocable. Any
\nand all can be dissolved. The folly of the secession petitions is it
\nseems citizens are requesting permission to divorce themselves from the
\nfederal government. No state needs this authorization from their
\nrespective partners, and if one does not have the right to secede, it is
\nno longer free.<\/p>\n

Fidelity to the Constitution is what holds the union together and
\nshould be consensual. Unfaithfulness by any of its parties can justify
\nits disunion. I am in no way advocating any state leave this union, just
\nstating the legality of it and letting the readers absorb what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve
\nwritten and form their own opinions. I believe Patrick Henry said it
\nbest: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The first thing I have at heart is American liberty; the second
\nthing is American union.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In a liberty-based society, liberty always
\ntrumps government.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u201d\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/p>\n

Loy Mauch represents District 26 in the Arkansas legislature. <\/p>\n

Editorial, Pages 13 on 12\/28\/2012<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guest writer Nation divisible U.S. states remain sovereign By LOY MAUCH SPECIAL TO THE DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE LITTLE ROCK \u00e2\u20ac\u201d Much has been written and discussed on the issue of secession petitions in the past few weeks, and it seems that very few citizens on either side of the argument understand the facts concerning this right. The … Continue reading Article & commentary on Secession<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,6,3,27,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-false-history","category-federal-government","category-police-state","category-real-war-on-terror-our-borders","category-u-s-constitution","category-u-s-government-offenses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arkansasfreedom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}