Ron,
First of all, Larry's claim was stronger than that: he said that, for example, Quebec has the right to separate from Canada, should they get a majority to vote for it.
Second, Southerners would have replied to you that the North was threatening to change the basis on which they (the Souith) signed on. That is, they were trying to eliminate slavery after having clearly accepted it at the time the Constitution was signed. Nevermind that Lincoln said he wouldn't force the then current slave states to forego, they saw the writing on wall. And anyway, according to Larry, the only thing that matters is the "collected"[sic] will of the people (whatever that might be, and however it might be discovered), not any previous implied "contract" that may have been signed generations earlier. |
