Was Secession A Constitutional Right? 1868 Book Concluded It Was. "It was in 1833, for the frst time in the history of the country, that it was solemnly asserted and argued, that the Constitution of the 'United States was not a compact between the States. This new doctrine simultaneously put forth, by Mr. Justice Story in his "Commentaries on the Constitution of the 'United States," and by Mr. Daniel Webster in "the greatest intellectual effort of his life," that is, in his great speech in the Senate of the I6th of February, 1833. In order to show that the Constitution is not a compact between the States, the position is assumed, that it is not a compact at all. If it be a compact, say they, then the States had a right to secede. But it is not a compact; and hence secession is treason and rebellion. The great fundamental questions, then, on which the whole controversy hinges are, first, Is the Constitution a compact? and, secondly, Is it a compact between the States?" - Albert Bledsoe, Was Secession A Constitutional Right (1868)