Sorry if I was unclear. I didn’t say that states seceded because Lincoln used force. I was saying the reverse of that. In other words, Lincoln used force to prevent secession and to coerce a conclusion to the longstanding controversy between the states. He “preserved the Union” against the will of the seceding states and forever changed the nature of the United States by elevating the federal government to a position of supremacy over the states.
Actually the ratification of the United States Constitution “forever changed the nature of the United States by elevating the federal government to a position of supremacy over the states”.