Article XIII of the Articles clearly states that the Union enshrined in that document cannot be altered without the unanimous consent of all 13 state legislatures. But Article VII of the Constitution claims that the ratification of nine states sufficed to make the new governing document operative. Since no provision is made in the Articles for nine states to alter the nature of the Union without the consent of the other four, the Constitution of 1787 clearly effects a new Union, rather than simply altering or renovating the old one. Therefore, the nine states that ratified the Constitution must have seceded from the Articles of Confederation, dissolving the old Union, and forming a new one. The rebels of 1860 were not claiming any more rights for themselves than were exercised by the Founders in 1787 when Messrs. Madison, Jefferson, and company dissolved another preexisting union without unanimous consent and proceeded to forge a new one. This was how the Confederate argument ran. For secession to be legitimate in 1860, the American Union must be dated to June 21, 1788, and no earlier.
Opposed to this line of reasoning was Abraham Lincoln, who argued that the United States of America was born on July 4, 1776. Unfortunately for the Confederates where constitutionality was concerned, Lincoln had Madison and Jefferson on his side. On March 4, 1825, the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia adopted a series of resolutions that had been worked out and agreed upon by the two great Virginians in writing. The resolutions affirmed “that on the distinctive principles of the government of our state, and of that of these United States, the best guides are to be found in 1. The Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental act of union of these States. . . .” Both Jefferson and Madison expressly endorse the notion that the Declaration of Independence is “the fundamental act of union of these States.”
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