The Constitution died when Abraham Lincoln decided to treat the solemn constitutional acts of the people of eleven states as mere "combinations of lawbreakers" to be destroyed by the force at the command of the party in control of the federal executive. One may celebrate or abhor that fact, but fact it is. And Lincoln so acted even though in the election that brought him to power, 60 per cent of the people had voted against "a policy of coercion."
The real Constitution did not belong to lawyers, who obfuscate for a living, but to the people of the States. The proper meaning of the Constitution is not a legal question but a historical one. Citizens did not need lawyers and judges to tell them what THEIR Constitution meant.
https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-real-constitution/
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https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/blog/the-real-constitution/