A Constitutional History of Secession

Until a few years ago anyone who spoke of secession as a legal right could expect to be scoffed at as the advocate of a permanently outmoded idea. In recent decades, however, separatist movements have appeared across Europe and North America. Peoples are seeking to reclaim their self-government from centralized …

Until a few years ago anyone who spoke of secession as a legal right could expect to be scoffed at as the advocate of a permanently outmoded idea. In recent decades, however, separatist movements have appeared across Europe and North America. Peoples are seeking to reclaim their self-government from centralized nationstates and secession can now be seriously discussed.

John Remington Graham has brought his considerable knowledge to the question. He finds that secession is form of peaceable and lawful revolution rooted in the English Revolution of 1688 and 1689, usable today as in the past, and a living part of Anglo-American constitutional law and tradition.

Clyde Wilson, an eminent scholar of the statesman John C. Calhoun, has said of this work, “Had I the power, I would require every professor of history, political science, and law in America to read Graham’s work. Nowhere is there a truer and more thorough treatment of the real origins and nature of freedom and self-government. This work is essential for those who would like to recover those great blessings.”