I honestly didn't mean to dance around it, sorry. I really just think he was being terribly overly-cautious in this case as it was clearly okay via the treaty powers granted the President by the Constitution.My point, which you carefully danced around, is that his strict constructionism went out the window when he became president. L Purchase is just one example of many.
What I find most aggravating is that people act as if the 10th Amendment exists in some kind of vaccuum, where there is no competing, compelling, or over-riding arguments, of which there are many... and they happen to have legislative and judicial historical precedence.

For what it is worth, I agree with this. I even touched on this in a post I made ages ago about terrorism... (mind you, the 'rebellion' part of this doesn't apply to the CSA since secession was legitimateIn my case, I can see that their is, at least, an argument to be made for the legality of secession. But, I see compelling counter-arguments. And, in balance, I come down on the side of that it most likely was illegal, but once the shots started firing it didn't matter.
One idea that I have evolved from these threads is that (and this fits my pragmatic nature) in the end, it does NOT MATTER. There is a de facto reality that most people are ignoring, because its funner to be pedantic than practical. And that is, that if they won, it would've been legal. Just like the US in 1776. If we had lost, the FF's would've all been hung as traitors. If the CSA had won, it wouldn't matter if the US could make an argument that it was illegal because the CSA had taken their independence and there nothing to do about it.

Scenario 1: Rebellion/Civil War
Rebellion against the lawful governing authority of a nation is not terrorism in and of itself. It is, however, a very interesting situation because the only thing that makes it legitimate is victory. Example - If the British had summarily stomped the holy living snot out of the colonies, then the leaders of the rebellion would all have most likely been hanged as traitors and the rebellion may not have been more than a footnote in the history of the British Empire. However, the colonies won and The British recognized the legitimacy of the new nation via The Treaty of Paris.
Btw, I certainly hope you don't think I sit around pining for the CSA. I totally and fully accept that it's dead and gone and in the past and I'm a most loyal citizen of America.