[southernsunshine]

The Southern opponents of the Northern states’ right to not enforce laws untenable to them led the South to start the deadliest war in American history.
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Flip side to this view. The Southern states entered into the Union of their own volition and wished to withdraw from the Union of their own volition. Lincoln refused to give up a total Union. So, did the Southern states start the war or were they invaded by the Union?

[SSS Two]

Flip side to this view. The Southern states entered into the Union of their own volition and wished to withdraw from the Union of their own volition. Lincoln refused to give up a total Union. So, did the Southern states start the war or were they invaded by the Union?

We can agree that the Southern states entered the Union voluntarily. But the Union is "perpetual". Secession is unconstitutional. Like little kids who didn't get their way, the South threw a temper tantrum. This time, though, the stakes were exceedingly high.

Confederates fired the first shots (Ft. Sumter). Confederates shed the first blood (Baltimore Riot). Yes indeed. The South started the war. The reason is that they would no longer tolerate the states' rights position of the North.

[Non-Sequitur]

The Southern states entered into the Union of their own volition and wished to withdraw from the Union of their own volition.

Five of the original seven confederate states, and eight out of 11 total confederate states did not enter of their own volition. They were allowed to join. Admitted only with the consent of the other states. Shouldn't leaving have required the same?