[x]

Just as the Southern states wanted out of the empire completely.

....

If slavery had been the sole motivation for the Southern states, they probably would have accepted the Corwin Amendment and moved on with their lives.

Read the periodicals of the time, like DeBow's Review. Slaveowning elites were already focused on independence and expansion. When you can have your own empire, why be part of someone else's?

[southernsunshine]

Read the periodicals of the time, like DeBow's Review.

I have.

Slaveowning elites were already focused on independence and expansion. When you can have your own empire, why be part of someone else's?

Something wrong with expansion? Something wrong with not wanting someone else picking your pocket for "internal improvements"?