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Papa_Tiger wrote:

Jeff B. wrote:A very timely post...

"...and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. "

We are not bound to the federal leviathan. Those who profit from its existence, of course maintain that we are...

Jeff B.

Ahh but we are. The conclusion of the War of Northern Aggression and Texas v. White settled that. Once a State has entered the union, it is no longer an independent state and cannot dissolve the bonds of said union peacefully or through force. Since the Constitution states that it and Federal Law is "the supreme law of the land", once in, the formerly free state must now be subject and no longer wholly free.

You only quoted part of it. The declaration of Independence is speaking to the right of ALL the colonies/states COLLECTIVELY to what other NATION STATES do, not the individual state entities. This is further reinforced in the Constitution as amended. Federal supremacy was well established by the time of the "Whiskey Rebellion" in Western Pennsylvania & territories, but even shortly after the Civil War the Federal government was no where near as intrusive as it is today. Funyy thing is if you look at the reasons in the Declaration of Independence and for the Confederate states rebellion, they are in some ways very minor compared to what we put up with from the central government today...