If the population of a State wants to leave the Union and the Union forcibly prevents them from doing so, then the United States is no different than the Romans

If the population of a State wants to leave the Union and the Union forcibly prevents them from doing so, then the United States is no different than the Romans, or the British, or the Soviets. They all had their own state documents which declared secession illegal, of course, so perhaps you're comfortable in that company. >Statehood is eternal. Is that you, Louis XIV? Spinning yarns about the divine right to rule? >Secession is quite literally treason... Says the nation born of treason. >..and the Civil War was in that sense constitutionally mandatory. Any institution which is willing and able to kill a million men solely for the purpose of its own preservation is a menace. But as long as it was constitutionally necessary, I guess we're good?