Quixotic perhaps but hardly foolish.Extremism in pursuit of liberty is no vice.
The framework of liberty has to be there before it can be claimed. It isn’t some arbitrary license.
Morally and spiritually, slaves dragged down both the North and the South, but the South more at the time of the split. Before God, begging for freedom when you won’t give it to your slaves is asking for a deaf ear. The North was more pragmatic, it just wanted a going concern of a country.