[Who is John Galt?]

And as Lincoln said in his First Inaugural address, there COULD be no war, unless the South started it.
Well, Davis soon obliged, by firing on & forcing surrender of Fort Sumter...
and indeed there need have been no war, had the South not been determined to start one.

Gosh, I almost forgot to mention: we're still waiting for you to provide evidence of Mr. Lincoln's decision to "appeal to a judge" (your Post 2,210), rather than deploy military forces within the seceded States. "I ask you: what appeal was ever made to any court on the subject of secession" by Mr. Lincoln's government?

;>)

[BroJoeK]

""I ask you: what appeal was ever made to any court on the subject of secession" by Mr. Lincoln's government?"

Another ridiculous argument. There's just nothing you won't say, is there?

Seceding states acknowledged no Federal authority, so an appeal by Lincoln to a US court would have been nonsense. On the other hand, states claiming the Constitutional right of unilateral, unapproved secession could have established that right as legitimate by appealing to the US Supreme Court. And given previous Court decisions, such as Dred-Scott, it's even possible the Court would agree.

But no such appeal was ever made, and so it was never established in any legal sense that unilateral secession is Constitutionally valid. And, of course, that remains true today.

Sorry pal, but you need to grow up and get over it. It is what it is. ;-)