"If Grant had dithered on how best to deal with slavery, secession clarified his thinking on preserving the Union, turning him into an outright militant. He conceded that the Constitution might have allowed one of the original thirteen states to secede, but such a right "was never possessed at all by Florida or the states west of the Mississippi, all of which were purchased by the treasury of the entire nation. Texas and the territory brought into the Union in consequence of annexation, were purchased by with both blood and treasure." Every night, Grant read the newspaper aloud [to his wife] Julia, who thought, somewhat illogically, that states had a right to leave the Union, but that the national government had a duty to prevent it - a blatant contradiction that amused her husband." Source: From Ron Chernow's Grant (2017)