It was really close...

"W P Dixon" wrote in message news:hV6he.42

Actually you are not being fair, states had secceded, which at that time
was
Constitutional. What Lincoln did was make a war with a new soveriegn
nation.
You can't really call it a rebellion if it is one country against another.
Well, you can if you went to public schools!

LOL. "Seceded." *ahem*

I've been researching and writing the civil war for something like ten years
now. Can't find the part of the Constitution where it says that secession
is legal. Article I, Section 9, of the U.S. Constitution, however, states
"The privilege of the Writ of Habeus Corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

Personally, let's just say my ancestors came from Mississippi and Louisiana
and served on the side that declared it their legal right to secede. But if
Lincoln determined the impending outbreak of civil war to be a case of
rebellion or invasion, he may have suspended it in the interest of public
safety.

-c