Quote Originally Posted by Rex Brynen View Post
Am I missing something, or didn't you folks subsequently have a horribly bloody civil war over governance issues? And wasn't Madison--at least until after the War of 1812--a proponent of states' rights and a weak central government?

We, on the other hand, managed to avoid having a civil war, and yet didn't have a constitutionally-entrenched Charter of Rights until 1982.
First, Civil War is not insurgency; and that debate could have gone many ways, it happens that it went violent.

The idea that states had no right to pull out of the Union was established by Andrew Jackson; but I am sure that at the time of the Civil War reasonable minds could differ as to that rights existence. Lincoln held firm to enforcing Jackson's position. It was bloody indeed. I think it proves the strength of the documents rather than reveals their weakness.