It is the crux of the entire matter. If you are not arguing the right to secession, you are not honestly arguing about the civil war.
They had a right to leave, and nobody had a right to stop them from leaving. The Northern states even acknowledged this prior to the war. "Errant sisters, go in peace!"
“ If you are not arguing the right to secession, you are not honestly arguing about the civil war.”
Not at all. I’m just not letting you muddy the waters.
To recap:
The reason for secession was the South’s desire to preserve slavery.
The trigger for secession was the election of Abraham Lincoln, which fed fear of the abolitionist foundation of the Republican Party.
The American Civil War began when units of the South Carolina Militia fired upon a Union fort in Charleston harbor.