He knew - and the slavery lobby knew - that banning slavery in the federal territories would cause the eventual end of American slavery.
Slavery had to expand or it would die.
This is why the slavery lobby's first strategic war aim was to try to seize the West for the Confederacy.
While everyone was watching Sumter, Baylor was organizing the expedition to seize the New Mexico territory.
From the very beginning, the Confederacy's goal was not "peaceful secession." The goal was to maintain a tenuous peace with the loyal portion of the Union long enough for the Confederacy to equip and position forces to take control of the West.
We had a long discussion about this before in August of 2008 [Post 127 and subsequent posts]. At that time you had said that "Before the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter, Confederate soldiers were already marching through Texas to seize the federal territory of New Mexico." I think I showed that this was not so.
Now you say that Baylor was organizing an expedition to seize New Mexico territory while everyone was watching Fort Sumter. I've not been able to find a source that says that. If you are aware of one, would you please provide it.