[CodeMonkey]

The South seceded for the most anti(classical) liberal reason: to defend the right of property in other human beings. That was the only "state right" that was threatened by Lincoln. As a Southerner I find the South's secession to be the real reason why the "republic died in 1860." Had the South not resorted to such extremism and emancipated its slaves voluntarily the growth of the federal government that resulted from the Civil War would never have happened and we'd be a much freer country today. Blame the South, not the rest of the Union for the Civil War. The rest of the Union was perfectly justified in forcing the South back into the Union because fighting for a right to own another human being is only a few shades less immoral than fighting for the right to slaughter ethnic minorities at will.

[azhenfud]

As I said, that's an issue for discussion elsewhere, but I'd urge you to examine more closely the Southern cause.