Their reasons for leaving are irrelevant to their right to do so. Did they have the right to leave as espoused by the Declaration of Independence? Did they have that right?
The Union fought to end freedom REGARDING SLAVERY.
But they didn't. Had the South given up independence, the Union would have continued to allow slavery. So not only is your cutesy little quip wrong, it's a deliberate attempt to lie to people about what was really going on.
"Ending Slavery" got lumped into the goals of the war after two years of fighting. What were they fighting to do for those first two years before they came up with that bit of propaganda?
The root cause of the Secession of the Southern States was and has always been, the fact that they wanted to maintain the right to own and other people, and to extend that right to the Territories. You can call it FREEDOM, or State’s Rights, it’s still about the right to own other people against their will.
Which the Union continued to do as well, Remember there were five Union slave states throughout the war, and also remember that had the South been defeated prior to 1863, the Union was going to keep slavery going in the south.
How do you get up on your moral high horse when the facts contradict what you are claiming? Why are you pushing a lie that is demonstrably untrue to people with intellectual honesty?
The Union abolished slavery out of revenge, and because of a desperate need to justify all the bloodshed and destruction they caused by invading people who didn't want to remain part of their government.
Just stop with the slavery bullshit. Had they never tried to become independent of Washington D.C., they would have had slavery for decades longer. The Union kept it going throughout the war in Maryland, New Jersey, Missouri, Delaware and Kentucky.
All Slave states, and no slaves were freed in those Union slave states by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
So, let’s be very clear about this. The United States did not fight the Civil War to end slavery. If I was unclear on this point, I apologize. Abraham Lincoln was very clear on this point. The United States was fighting to maintain the Union. They continued to allow slavery in those states that had it. This point is not in contention at all. The United States was not hypocritical about this as the issue of slavery was not the main reason they fought at all.
The real question is, why did the South secede? Your statement is “Their reasons for leaving are irrelevant to their right to do so. Did they have the right to leave as espoused by the Declaration of Independence? Did they have that right?” It appears that you’re implying that the ruling elite in the South just woke up one day and decided to secede, just because they thought they had the right to do so, with no reason at all.
Regardless of whether they had the right to secede or not, I do think the reason that they chose to exercise that right, and get 600,000 some Americans killed in the process is important. Why did they decide to do it, Why? Why? Why? What a mystery. Fortunately, it’s not a mystery. The seceding States listed their reasons in the various Articles of Secession that each state wrote. If you read these Articles, the reason is not mysterious at all. The main, and virtually, only reason given is the defense of slavery. They do dress it up a little by talking about their right to secede, but the reason they chose to exercise this right is not unclear at all.
So, if the people that actually seceded stated, very clearly and publicly, that the reason to secede was the defense of slavery, how can you say that it was something else?