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A View of the Constitution of the United States of America.Author: William Rawle, LL.D. Publisher's Commentary: Rawle, like Alexander H. Stephens, supports the theoretical right of secession, but argues against it as a general matter of policy (see chapter 32). As a respected Northern attorney, Quaker, and abolitionist, writing well before the sectional conflict grew heated, his views on the subject are interesting precisely because they are not tainted by that controversy, and because he seems to be one of the few writers who addressed the question of secession explicitly at the time. This book appears to have been used as a textbook at West Point, at least during the 1825-1826 year. There is a great amount of controversy about whether it was used in later years, and about the significance of its use (see Was "Secession" Taught at West Point?). Whether Lee and Jackson and Davis drank at this particular well while cadets, we don't know for sure. What does seem clear is that Rawle was not considered to be a radical, a fire-eater, or a rebel-lover. President Washington appointed him the U.S. District Attorney for Pennsylvania in 1791, and, in this role, Rawle prosecuted the participants in the Whiskey Rebellion. Rawle's views on state sovereignty and consitutional interpretation seem to be perfectly in accord with Stephens' views as well (chapter 1):
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