A Constitutional History of Secession

This comprehensive history traces the quest for a peaceable and lawful revolution, from Britain's Glorious Revolution to Canada's current situation, with a special emphasis on the constitutional questions raised by the American Civil War. As the British constitution evolved, British leaders recognised the need for a civilised method of transferring power without bloody and destructive revolutions. Impressed by the smooth transition of the Glorious Revolution, America's founders incorporated similar ideas into the Untied States constitution, establishing a republican confederacy of free, sovereign, and independent states. Yet when the Southern states exercised their legal right to peacefully secede, America erupted into a civil war. Graham devotes several chapters to the Confederate secession, addressing the issues of Southern abolitionists, South Carolina's nullification crisis, the Missouri Compromise, the Southern confederacy, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction Acts.