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DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis: "The people posses an inherent right to dispose of any government that does not rule with the consent of the governed."

Bubba Ho-Tep: "Then I assume that any individual or group of individuals can, at will, declare themselves to have disposed of the government and to now be a free and independent nation unto themselves, right?"

The opinion of Northern "Dough-faced" Democrats like outgoing President Buchanan was that secessionists had no legitimate or lawful reason to declare secession, but that the Federal Government had no power to stop them.
That was also Lincoln's opinion, so long as peace was maintained and Federal laws enforced -- i.e., tariffs.
So, had Jefferson Davis been determined to maintain peace, there was good chance of the Confederacy's success.

What changed those opinions were the constant secessionists' provocations of war -- seizures of dozens of Federal properties, forts, ships, arsenals, mints -- and then starting war at Fort Sumter.
But to seal the deal, the Confederacy also formally declared war on the United States (May 6, 1861) and sent military support to Confederates fighting in Union states.

All this happened before a single Confederate soldier was killed in battle with any Union force, and before a any Union army invaded a single Confederate state.

So the Union choice then was whether to conduct a McClellan-like "Dough-faced" losing war, or whether to fight a "total war" for unconditional surrender and destruction of the Slave Power, which had become an abomination to civilized humans.

Lincoln chose total war, unconditional surrender and utter destruction of slavery.

Actually, that was not Lincoln's opinion. He didn't think they had any right to secede. And when they did, he had no intentions of there being peace. The Confederacy sent peace delegations to try and negotiate friendly relations, both before and after the Fort Sumter incident. But Seward and Lincoln refused to even see them. Rather than seeking peace, Lincoln was the first to declare war. The Confederacy, not eager for a war, waited over two weeks after Lincoln declared war before they declared war back.

Lincoln chose total war, unconditional surrender and utter destruction of slavery.

He sure did. Right from the beginning. Except the slavery part. He didn't really care about the slaves and told Greeley that if he could win the war without freeing a single slave he would do it. Freeing the slaves was not a Northern causes for war. And when Lincoln issued his emancipation proclamation in 1863, it wasn't because he cared about the slaves, but rather to make the North look virtuous in its war of aggression and to discourage France and England from coming in on the side of the South. If he really cared about the slaves, then why did the emancipation proclamation only "free" the slaves in the Confederacy (where h e had no control) and yet specifically leave in bondage those slaves in Union states and Union held-territories?