Editing Sovereignty (section)

=== Federations ===
In a [[federal republic|federal]] [[system of government]], ''sovereignty'' also refers to powers which a constituent state or republic possesses independently of the national government. In a confederation, constituent entities retain the right to withdraw from the national body and the union is often more temporary than a federation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Confederation|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/confederation-politics|access-date=17 June 2020|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref>

Different interpretations of [[states' rights|state sovereignty]] in the [[United States|United States of America]], as it related to the expansion of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]] and [[fugitive slave laws]], led to the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]]. Depending on the particular issue, sometimes both northern and southern states justified their political positions by appealing to state sovereignty. Fearing that slavery would be threatened by results of the [[1860 United States presidential election|1860 presidential election]], eleven slave states declared their independence from the federal Union and formed a new [[Confederate States of America|confederation]].<ref>[[James M. McPherson|McPherson, James]], ''[[Battle Cry of Freedom (book)|Battle Cry of Freedom]]'', (1988) pp. 40, 195, 214, 241</ref> The United States government rejected the [[secession in the United States|secessions]] as rebellion, declaring that secession from the Union by an individual state was [[unconstitutional]], as the states were part of an indissoluble federation in [[Perpetual Union]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Lincoln on Secession |url=https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/secessiontableofcontents.htm |website=National Park Service |access-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916204338/https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/secessiontableofcontents.htm |archive-date=16 September 2020 |language=en |date=10 April 2015 |quote=The secessionists claimed that according to the Constitution every state had the right to leave the Union. Lincoln claimed that they did not have that right. |url-status=live}}</ref>