[rockrr]

No they weren’t. In order for the secession to be legitimate, ALL of the states had to agree on the separation. Since the rebel states chose not to take their case to Congress, the resulting secession was not legal, valid, or enforceable.

[Svartalfiar]

No they weren’t. In order for the secession to be legitimate, ALL of the states had to agree on the separation. Since the rebel states chose not to take their case to Congress, the resulting secession was not legal, valid, or enforceable.

So the 11 states of the South would have had to convince 23 states of the North to allow their main export producing areas to leave freely? That's pretty laughable - obviously the North would never freely allow the other states to leave.