A View of the Constitution of the United States of America

Did the Federal government teach secession at West Point?

William Rawle, a Northerner, a friend of Washington and Franklin, and an abolitionist, wrote a textbook on the US Constitution that recognized the right of secession. His textbook was used at the US Military Academy at West Point.

“We recommend the …

Did the Federal government teach secession at West Point?

William Rawle, a Northerner, a friend of Washington and Franklin, and an abolitionist, wrote a textbook on the US Constitution that recognized the right of secession. His textbook was used at the US Military Academy at West Point.

“We recommend the treatise of Mr. Rawle as a SAFE and INTELLIGENT guide,” North American Review, 1826, Boston Massachusetts.

“Rawle himself a Federalist, but his studies in government had led him to the judgement that the Union was not irrevocable,” Elizabeth Kelley Bauer, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1790-1860.
“Rawle’s View of the Constitution was the legal textbook at West Point,” General Fitzhugh Lee, CSA.
The post “Civil War” development of America’s supreme Federal government, its bureaucratic state and “living” Constitution arose after the rejection of Rawle’s view – a rejection based not upon Constitutional due process but upon bloody bayonets.

The Kennedy Twins provide abundant annotated notes and abstracts from America’s Founding Fathers supporting Rawle’s view of the Constitution.

A message from the Kennedy Brothers: A View of the Constitution of the United States of America, 1829 edition, by William Rawle, LL.D., was first published in 1825, and it has been more than 190 years since it was last published. In editing and annotating Mr. Rawle’s book, we have endeavored to make this work understandable to those who are reading it in the early part of the 21st century. In doing so, we have corrected those parts of the text which he had noted were incorrect, and on rare occasions, we have substituted words more in keeping with modern usage. The changes have been made with an eye toward maintaining the meaning and spirit of his original work. It is our intention to protect the truth and integrity of his work.