In the case of the Confederates, however, they were traitors to the Union, aka the United States.
I understand what you are saying, but it is hard to back that far in time and make judgments. It was a completely different world, and they did what they thought they had to. I can respect that, and taht being said, I can also respect the resolve of Lincoln and the Union to fight.
How could they be traitors if the Union was dissolved? How could the United States be "the United States" if the CSA had seceded? Your intemperate allegiance to the victors' history books does you no service. If secession from a Constitution by which only your forefathers agreed to be bound is somehow different in the cases of rule by monarch and rule by mob, you'd better be happy to suck up to Hillary no matter what, because you've given up your right to object to anything she does if elected. Of course you can always move to Swaziland and usurp a monarch there, but not a democratically elected tyrant. God forbid you'd lived in Weimar Germany or Fascist Italy. "Yeah, I know he's killing his opposition, but we elected him, how dare you fight against him, you traitor!"