January Twenty-Sixth
THREE VIEWS OF SECESSION CONNECTED WITH LOUISIANA; 1803-1811-1861
Resolved, that the annexation of Louisiana to the Union transcends the Constitutional power of the Government of the United States. It formed a New Confederacy to which the States united by the former compact are not bound to adhere.
Massachusetts Legislature
(Upon Purchase of Louisiana Territory, 1803)
Louisiana secedes from the Union, 1861
Virginia readmitted to the Union, 1870
January Twenty-Seventh
If this bill passes, it is my deliberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolution of this Union, that it will free the States from their moral obligations, and as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare for a separation, amicably if they can, violently if they must.
Josiah Quincy
(Representative from Massachusetts in Congress, opposing statehood for Louisiana Territory, 1811)
Richard Taylor born, 1826