Excerpt from An Address on the Aspect of National Affairs and the Right of Secession: Delivered Before the Literary Club of Cincinnati, Saturday Evening, March 16, 1861 One would suppose that, whatever may be the extent or the meaning of the Constitution, there were two things beyond all doubt: First. That the instrument is a law. Second. That, as far as it goes, it is supreme. To all human government, I admit, there is a right of resistance - a revolutionary right, which overrides all forms of law, and all Obligations of allegiance - a disruption of the social tie, and an appeal to the God of battles. But revolution is not justifiable for every discontent which may arise in a state. The causes which may justify revolution are well defined in our Declaration of Independence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.