[fortheDeclaration]

"The South did not attempt secession because they feared a strong central government." The good Colonel did not mention secession, he stated Southerners were lukewarm in their support of the Confederacy of the Southern states or were outright Unionists, to which I countered. His assertion was not quite correct.

The Southern leadership pushed the South into secession, for a cause very few cared about-slave expansion.

Many Southerners did go North and fight for the Union.

It is interesting that Lincoln's name was not even allowed on the ballots in the South.

Those Southern leaders were true lovers of freedom alright.

[azhenfud]

"It is interesting that Lincoln's name was not even allowed on the ballots in the South."

Because the Republican party decided Lincoln was their man and Southern statesmen took that as an indication the empasse between them and the North had become unbridgeable. It's interesting that Lincoln's name wasn't even on the ballot until the third one which, when his name was vetted, only fueled states' decisions to secede. No, Lincoln didn't have any more of a place on the seceding states' ballots than Vincete Fox would have had on an American's ballot.