In the section of the Declaration of Independence that lists the natural rights of man, he presciently includes, “That to secure these [natural rights] rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Lincoln also maintained a third position (modifying his pro- and anti-secession rhetoric) in which he believed that the right of secession was legitimate only as a reaction to government tyranny and oppression. Since that was not the case, Lincoln reasoned, in the United States circa 1860, the Southern secessionist movement was an illegitimate response and thus impermissible. Of course, and perhaps unwittingly on the part of Lincoln, the underlying implication is that should a state actually suffer from “government tyranny and oppression,” secession would be an appropriate course of action – and, accordingly, a legal remedy.
Ironically, Lincoln was no stranger to the concepts of government tyranny and oppression. During his presidency, he “illegally suspended the writ of habeas corpus; launched a military invasion without consent of Congress;…imprisoned without warrant or trial some 13,000 Northern citizens who opposed his policies; arrested dozens of newspaper editors and owners and, in some cases, had federal soldiers destroy their printing presses; censored all telegraph communication;…ordered Federal troops to interfere with Northern elections; deported a member of Congress from Ohio after he criticized Lincoln’s unconstitutional behavior; confiscated private property; confiscated firearms in violation of the Second Amendment; and eviscerated the Ninth and Tenth Amendments.”
All from this site
http://www.historyvortex.org/LegalitySecession.html
