Virginia a Union state

ISTR reading a prescient selection from that debate. It pointed out, rightly, that it'd probably come to war over the issue, and that they'd probably lose and be conquered, or at least suffer alot in any war.

The vote was close because it had lots of hill country bad for cotton, including today's WVA. So, it's not so implausible.
 
More on presidential power to suppress an insurrection:

"During the Civil War, the Court issued two significant opinions interpreting the war powers. In the Prize Cases (1863), the Court on a 5 to 4 vote upheld President Lincoln's order blockading southern ports--even though the order was issues prior to a formal declaration of war on the Rebel states by Congress. The Court found Lincoln's action authorized by a 1795 Act allowing the President to call out troops to suppress an insurrection."

Source: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/warandtreaty.htm
 
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