Their right to secede can and should be defended by constitutionalists and libertarians. The reason for their seceding cannot be defended by any thinking libertarian.
Disagree with why you’re seceding, but defend your right to secede. They are two separate issues.
SO - the question I have is regarding Lincoln - was he wrong to disallow secession? Or was he right to use the power at his disposal to end slavery? What should Lincoln have done, given the choices with which he was faced?
Lincoln was a racist and cared little about freeing slaves until he ran out of Irish conscripts to throw at Lee and the ANV.
Lincoln was screwed. To maintain the Union, he had to use totalitarian-type powers to fight the secessionists, setting the precedent for nearly unlimited Federal power which haunts us today. However, had he allowed the Confederacy to secede peacefully, the two sides would have clashed on the battlefield eventually as both the North and the South sought expansion to the west.
He was faced with a true no-win situation, the source of which was institutionalized slavery, and that plain fact cannot be avoided.
I liked how America turned out—at least til now.
“SO - the question I have is regarding Lincoln - was he wrong to disallow secession? “
Was it Lincoln who “disallowed” secession, or was it the Northern States and people, with Lincoln acting as their agent?
“Or was he right to use the power at his disposal to end slavery?”
As I recall, he ended slavery only in the States which were in opposition to the Union and did so as a wartime tactic or strategy. He was tactically or strategically right only in so far as the effort was successful.
“What should Lincoln have done, given the choices with which he was faced?”
Perhaps, comply with the will of the Northern States and people or resign or be replaced.