In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world.
-- Mississippi Declaration of Secession
No, i'm just tired of listening to uniformed people trying to justify the history they WANT to believe in at the expense of an essential principle from this nation's founding.
By the very words of the Declaration of Independence, people have a right to abolish the form of government that they live under and create a new one more to their liking.
There reasons for doing so (even if it was to protect slavery) have nothing to do with their *RIGHT* to do so. When the Colonies seceded from England, they too were all slave states. Every one of them still had legal slavery, so it is rather hypocritical to suggest that because states had legal slavery, they had no right to secede.
Again, ALL THE COLONIES had legal slavery in 1776.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolition_of_slavery_timeline#1700.E2.80.931800
The Civil war was a disaster for this nation and most especially for the principle of self determination. It is when the Federal Leviathan began, and now it has grown into the massive beast that it is which is currently usurping so many of our rights.
Slavery was doomed anyway. Mechanized farming was just a few decades away, and it would have made slavery unprofitable, and that would have killed it.
On the other hand, the Federal leviathan which was birthed by that conflict is still with us, and growing more powerful with each passing year.