The Southern Democrats in 1860, just like in 2000 and again in 2016, refused to accept the results of the election. No more, no less. They were just a whole lot dumber about how they went about it.
I've learned a lot about this subject in the last three years, and what we think happened isn't exactly correct.
The Southerners were being taxed at a rate 12 times that of the Northerners, (per capita) but because the Northerners had the higher population, they always outvoted the Southerners.
So what could the Southerners have done to get out from under that taxation?
Democracy: "Two wolves and a sheep deciding on dinner."
Yeah, they were really dumb to think that they couldn’t quit a union they joined freely. Forcing people at gunpoint to remain in a club is NOT freedom and bears no similarity to the elections in 2000 and 2016 whatsoever.