Secessionist Tradition

Lay down the law
Shout out for more
Break out and shout
Day in, day out
--Swing Out Sister

Tom DiLorenzo highlights people and events in the US secessionist tradition developed during the first half of the country's existence. It began with the Declaration of Independence which was itself a declaration of secession from England.

The Declaration's author, Thomas Jefferson, was a vocal proponent of secession. In his inaugural address in 1801, Jefferson spoke, "If there be any among us who wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left to combat it."

Subsequently, when two New England states threatened secession after the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson wrote to a friend, if there was a "separation," then "God bless them both and keep them in the union if it be for their good, but separate them, if it be better."

The idea was voluntary union and the right to secede.

DiLorenzo quotes various individuals who subsequently reiterated this concept. He also includes a few examples from the long history of newspaper endorsements of the right to secede.

The Lincoln regime sought to rewrite history, declaring that a) the states were never sovereign, b) the union was not voluntary, c) the federal government was justified in waging total war on states that wished to secede from the union.

Despite those efforts, which killed and maimed millions, the natural right to secession remains undisturbed. As Jefferson wrote, this right is inalienable.