[Sans-Culotte]

Talented, may have meant well, was a man of decency and character — but he picked the wrong cause.

I never understood how so many Southerners made that decision. Lee did not favor secession, and hoped that Virginia would not secede; but when they did, he decided he could not make war on Virginians. Why were so many Southerners loyal to their state over the Union, while the Northerners considered themselves Americans first?

[miss marmelstein]

Hmmm...did they? My family were New York City copperheads and one wrote a letter trying to get out of the Union Army. New York City was practically a Confederate stronghold! And of course you know about the draft riots there.

[Alberta's Child]

Why were so many Southerners loyal to their state over the Union, while the Northerners considered themselves Americans first?

Probably because the North was much more urbanized, and many of its people had become completely detached from the land on which they lived.

If you look at a list of the 50 largest cities of the U.S. in 1860, you'll find the following in Confederate states:

#6 -- New Orleans, LA
#22 -- Charleston, SC
#25 -- Richmond, VA
#27 -- Mobile, AL
#38 -- Memphis, TN
#41 -- Savannah, GA
#50 -- Petersburg, VA

That's it. The South was largely agrarian, and I suspect that tends to make people much more connected to the place where they live.

[DiogenesLamp]

Massachusetts threatened to secede in the 1820s.

But beyond that, having to pay 80% of all the taxes, most of which got spent in the North, and having so many people calling you the most despicable people on Earth, yeah, it's a mystery why they wanted to leave the Country.

[central_va]

Why were so many Southerners loyal to their state over the Union,

Your question is a sad commentary on the state of republic as originally founded. You have no clue do you? Sad sad sad beyond pathetic.