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Anyone who wonders why the states of the South attempted to "secede" should just read Mississippi's Declaration of Secession. Slaves were considered the most valuable asset class in the world (described as "property worth four billions of money"). The slaveholders were desperate, describing "secession" as "not a matter of choice, but of necessity" to protect their lives as slaveholders.

No disagreement that any threat to slavery would be viewed as an existential economic threat in the southern states...my whole point wan't about why the South left but rather why Lincoln chose war, and that was to retake the territory.

So, there's really no mystery about what happened. "Secession" was designed to protect slavery and the Union's response was to protect the United States and to protect the rights of American citizens who lived in Southern states.

This despite Lincoln's inaugural statement? It was about retaining territory and population.

Nowadays, nearly everyone opposes slavery and most people are very grateful that it was abolished. Slavery wasn't good for the slaveholders and it certainly wasn't good for anyone else. And, now it's gone for good.

Except that it continues to this day, all over the world. Overtly in parts of Africa and the Middle East, where it is old-fashioned theft of physical labor, and covertly in the more developed world, where it is mostly girls forced into prostitution. I'll agree that it is good that the legal institution is gone in America, but slavery is still with us and will continue long after you and I are gone.

Lincoln was pretty clear in his first inaugural address that the United States government would not recognize as legitimate any state's attempt to secede from the Union and that he would abide by the Constitution's command that he faithfully execute the laws of the United States in every state in the country, north, south, east and west. There was no mistaking his intention.

The states which had declared a "secession" had thereby threatened to immediately strip every American citizen in those states of both their American citizenship and their rights under the U.S. Constitution. Those American citizens living in Southern states had direct Constitutional and political bonds with every other American citizen in the country ("We the people of the United States") and those bonds could not be legally severed by any group of other people living in those states.

I recognize that slaveholders were only attempting to protect what they viewed as their human property (slaves). I recognize that they honestly believed that their position as parasites was threatened. I recognize that they had become addicted to their indolent lifestyles and that many were afraid that they could not make their way in this world without the support of their slaves. I do recognize that they were desperate and felt they had no choice. I do recognize how dependent they had become.

Nowadays, nearly everyone in the South is grateful that Lincoln and the Union freed the slaves. Most are also grateful that Lincoln and the Union freed the slaveholders from their addiction to slavery. Granted, some of the slaveholders were unable to make it on their own, but most regained their self-respect and were successfully reconstructed.