Like a lot of folks, the Confederados goofed up at first, but in the end they figured out
the proper way to secede from the United States.
Moving to Brazil to escape what they felt to be an intolerable environment in the United States took great courage on the part of the Confederados. I admire them. When they left the U.S., they didn't try to force their neighbors to join them.
"... every man should endeavor to understand the meaning of subjugation before it is too late. We can give but a faint idea when we say it means the loss of all we now hold most sacred ... personal property, lands, homesteads, liberty, justice, safety, pride, manhood. It means that the history of this heroic struggle will be written by the enemy; that our youth will be trained by Northern school teachers; will learn from Northern school books their version of the War, will be impressed by all influences of history and education to regard our gallant dead as traitors, our maimed veterans as fit objects for their derision, it means the crushing of Southern manhood ... to establish sectional superiority and a more centralised form of government, and to deprive us of our rights and liberties."
Gen. Pat Cleburne C.S.A. ... 2 Jan 1864