One man certainly thought it possible in 1819:
"Sir, if dissolution of the Union must take place, let it be so! If civil war, which gentlemen so much threaten must come, I can only say, let it come! My hold on life is probably as frail as that of any man who now hears me; but while the hold lasts, it shall be devoted to the service of my country-to the freedom of man. If blood is necessary to extinguish any fire which I have assisted to kindle, I can assure gentlemen, while I regret the necessity, I shall not forbear to continue my mite. Sir, the violence to which gentlemen have resorted on this subject will not move my purpose, nor drive me from my stand here as the representative of freemen, who possess intelligence to know their rights, who have the spirit to maintain them. Whatever might be my own private sentiments on this subject, standing here as the representative of others, no choice is left me. I know the will of my constituents, and regardless of consequences, I will avow it; as their representative, I will proclaim their hatred to slavery in every shape; as their representative, here I will hold my stand, until this floor, with the Constitution of my country which supports it, shall sink beneath me. If I am doomed to fall, I shall at least have the painful consolation to believe that I fall, as a fragment, in the ruins of my country."
http://college.cengage.com/history/ayers_primary_sources/tallmadge_speech_congress.htm