Whatever. Davis wasn’t tried because the feds didn’t want to have his views upheld in court. That is the bottom line. It is not like the 1860s era republicans were a benevolent lot and let Confederates off the hook out of the goodness of their hearts. The Confederate states were not trying to overthrow the government because that would be treason. They just wanted out of a union they voluntarily entered, like a divorce. It is only common sense that states should be able to leave a union they voluntarily created and many people believed that at the time.
It's an incorrect bottom line.
It is not like the 1860s era republicans were a benevolent lot and let Confederates off the hook out of the goodness of their hearts.
They didn't. Johnson did.
The Confederate states were not trying to overthrow the government because that would be treason.
They entered into armed rebellion and warred against the government. That is treason.
They just wanted out of a union they voluntarily entered, like a divorce.
A divorce requires a judicial ruling to become legal. Using your analogy the Southern states walked out if the marriage after having run up the credit cards and grabbing every bit of community property not nailed down on their way out.
It is only common sense that states should be able to leave a union they voluntarily created and many people believed that at the time.
With the exception of the original 13 they needed permission to join the Union. Shouldn't leaving require the same? Walking out and abandoning responsibility for issues like debt and treaty obligations while lifting every piece of property they could without compensation is a plan guaranteed to end in acrimony. Which was probably what the Southern states wanted all along.
And the Declaration of Independence specifically says they have a right to leave if they want to do so.
Additionally, New York, Virginia and Rhode Island all stipulate in their ratification statements that they have a right to leave if they see the central government as becoming oppressive.
Additionally, both Massachusetts and Connecticut asserted a right to secede during the Hartford convention in 1814.
So there is a *LOT* of evidence that secession was legal, and virtually no evidence that states could be forced to remain in the Union against their will.