FEW people (except the authors of course) then/now thought the "declarations" important, or for that matter even read them.
had the authors written "Mary Had a Little Lamb", instead of the "declarations", their rantings would have had just as much importance (i.e. NONE) to scholars & to the causes of the war.
the war was about the southland's citizens seceding from a federal government, which they believed no longer was acting in their "best self interest".
free dixie,sw
Of course they were the rantings of a few slave owners. But in old Dixieland, the rantings of a few slave owners were the law and too many Southern boys followed those rantings and walked into sacrifice for the selfishness of the plantation gang.
And one more time, every one of them was drafted be a committee appointed by the individual state secession conventions, comprised of delegates to those conventions. They were debated by the entire convention, then approved unanimously in every case. Now, if you want to make the case that all the other acts of the secession conventions were "not official", have at it.
the war was about the southland's citizens seceding from a federal government, which they believed no longer was acting in their "best self interest".
Because they were afraid that their slaves would be freed.