[BroJoeK]

DiogenesLamp: "When you are talking about moral absolutes, 18 slaves in New Jersey is hypocrisy, while 400,000 slaves in South Carolina isn't."

A Confederate declaration of war against the United States (May 6, 1861) is a moral absolute.
The rate at which New Jersey & other Northern states gradually abolished slavery in the early 1860s is not.

[DiogenesLamp]

Back to your well of pretend outrage, I see.

[DiogenesLamp]

A Confederate declaration of war against the United States (May 6, 1861) is a moral absolute.

Supreme court says this is when the war started; April 19, 1861

The confederates were apparently late. Lincoln had already been making war on them by the time they declared.