Society is a congress of sovereigns, in which no one has
authority over another, and no one can be rightfully forced to
submit to any decree against his will. In such a congress the
rule of the majority is manifestly improper, illegitimate, and
invalid, unless adopted by unanimous consent.

But this is not all. The individual is always the equal of
himself, and if the government derives its powers from the
consent of the governed, he governs in the government, and parts
with none of his original sovereignty. The government is not his
master, but his agent, as the principal only delegates, not
surrenders, his rights and powers to the agent. He is free at
any time he pleases to recall the powers he has delegated, to
give new instructions, or to dismiss him. The sovereignty of the
individual survives the compact, and persists through all the
acts of his agent, the government. He must, then, be free to
withdraw from the compact whenever be judges it advisable.
Secession is perfectly legitimate if government is simply a
contract between equals. The disaffected, the criminal, the
thief the government would send to prison, or the murderer it
would hang, would be very likely to revoke his consent, and to
secede from the state. Any number of individuals large enough to
count a majority among themselves, indisposed to pay the
government taxes, or to perform the military service exacted,
might hold a convention, adopt a secession ordinance, and declare
themselves a free, independent, sovereign state, and bid defiance
to the tax-collector and the provost-marshall, and that, too,
without forfeiting their estates or changing their domicile.
Would the government employ military force to coerce them back to
their allegiance? By what right? Government is their agent,