You are exactly on target here but should also point out that there were several secession movements in the United States prior to 1860 and NONE of them occurred in the south. In fact, the right of a state to seceded was UNIVERSALLY accepted in the U.S. prior to about 1850.
If it was so universally accepted then please show me the part of the US Constitution that describes the process for secession.
You couldn't be more wrong. First off, the closest thing to a secession movement anywhere in the US was the Hartford Convention in 1814. A few of the delegates there grumbled a bit about secession, but the convention rejected the notion and the final report they issued made no mention of it. Nevertheless, the Democrats used the fact that it had even been mentioned to accuse the Federalists of treason, and within a few years the Federalists had been destroyed. You want an example of how it was accepted? Here's one southern newspaper editorial:
"The Union is in danger. Turn to the convention in Hartford, and learn to tremble at the madness of its authors. How far will those madmen advance? Though they may conceal from you the project of disunion, though a few of them may have even concealed if from themselves, yet who will pretend to set the bounds to the rage of disaffection? Once false step after another may lead them to resistance to the laws, to a treasonable neutrality, to a war against the Government of the United States. In truth, the first act of resistance to the law is treason to the United States. Are you ready for this state of things? Will you support the men who would plunge you into this ruin?No man, no association of men, no state or set of states has a right to withdraw itself from this Union, of its own accord. The same power which knit us together, can only unknit. The same formality, which forged the links of the Union, is necessary to dissolve it. The majority of States which form the Union must consent to the withdrawal of any one branch of it. Until that consent has been obtained, any attempt to dissolve the Union, or obstruct the efficacy of its constitutional laws, is Treason--Treason to all intents and purposes.
Any other doctrine, such as that which has been lately held forth by the ‘Federal Republican’ that any one State may withdraw itself from the Union, is abominable heresy – which strips its author of every possible pretension to the name or character of Federalist.
We call, therefore, upon the government of the Union to exert its energies, when the season shall demand it – and seize the first traitor who shall spring out of the hotbed of the convention of Harford. This illustrious Union, which has been cemented by the blood of our forefathers, the pride of America and the wonder of the world must not be tamely sacrificed to the heated brains or the aspiring hearts of a few malcontents. The Union must be saved, when any one shall dare to assail it.
Countrymen of the East! We call upon you to keep a vigilant eye upon those wretched men who would plunge us into civil war and irretrievable disgrace. Whatever be the temporary calamities which may assail us, let us swear, upon the altar of our country, to SAVE THE UNION." -- Richmond Enquirer, November 1814.