The Declarations of Secession were only offered by 4 of the 13 seceding states, so are a bit limited as a justification of the actions of all the states that seceded.
Far more instructive are the Ordinances of Secession, submitted individually by each of the seceding states. Their reason for secession was the same in each case. To retain and maintain their sovereignty.
They claimed the northern states and the federal government had broken it's compact and violated the constitution, consequently they were no longer bound to the Union. They were unanimous on this assertion.
Was slavery an issue? An underlying one most certainly, so far as it pertained to the over-riding necessity to protect state sovereignty from the unconstitutional actions, unlawful hostility, and outright aggression of the north.
The Ordinances were just stating secession. The Declarations got more into the why, and the why was slavery, as they indeed declared. The big players put out the Declarations.
Far more instructive are the Ordinances of Secession, submitted individually by each of the seceding states. Their reason for secession was the same in each case. To retain and maintain their sovereignty.
Just stating secession, not so much into the why.
They claimed the northern states and the federal government had broken it's compact and violated the constitution, consequently they were no longer bound to the Union. They were unanimous on this assertion. Was slavery an issue? An underlying one most certainly, so far as it pertained to the over-riding necessity to protect state sovereignty from the unconstitutional actions, unlawful hostility, and outright aggression of the north.
Funny how it was always slavery that made these states suddenly push for state's rights. They didn't seem to mind losing state's rights under FDR, FDR never lost a southern state.