Instead of pulling a lanyard on an artillery piece, maybe South Carolina should have sued in Federal Court for their secession. I would expect the Taney Supreme Court would have declared their right to secession as Constitutional.
That’s an interesting thought. But given that our court system seems to operate at glacial speeds, how long do you think that process would have taken?
I suppose an argument could be made that this would have bought time for the North to use its industrial might to better prepare for war against the South.
I think the North harbored increasing resentment for the growing wealth of the South and its lucrative cotton exporting business. Maybe even felt some fear over its growing independence. Perhaps not the main cause of the war, but a motivating factor nonetheless. It was inevitable that the North wasn’t going to let go.
One more thought if I may....
The destructive Boll weevil beetle entered the U.S. about 30 years after the Civil War ended. The South’s cotton crops were eventually devastated by this infestation. Perhaps this economic deprivation might have caused the South to re-think its relationship to the North. Who knows?
Sure, Taney maybe.
But the US Constitution clearly assigns such questions to Congress, constitutional amendment or a convention of the states.
What Taney may have done is declare some anti-slavery action of the Federal Government unconstitutional & illegal.
But of course, in 1861 there were no such actions, and without Confederates' withdrawal from Congress there never could have been.