Oh really? In early 1861 Senator John Slidell of Louisiana stood on the floor of the United States Senate and offered, on behalf of his state, to negotiate a settlement. The yankees refused to talk with him.
At that same time the state of South Carolina authorized a negotiating team and sent their Attorney General to Washington for the purpose of negotiating a settlement with the north. The yankees refused to meet with him.
A few weeks later the newly organized CSA government sent a three man team including a US Congressman, a former Governor of Louisiana, and the mayor of Mobile Alabama to Washington for the purpose of negotiating a settlement and delivering payment according to any settled terms. The yankees refused to meet with them.
After the CSA team had arrived in Washington and found the new Lincoln administration unwilling to negotiate, two sitting US Senators who had not yet seceded (Louis T. Wigfall of Texas and Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia) offered to serve as intermediaries between the CSA negotiators and the Lincoln administration. Lincoln refused to meet with even the sitting senators.
After Lincoln refused even the senator's offer, a sitting justice of the US Supreme Court offered to act as an intermediary between the CSA negotiators and the Lincoln administration on a strictly informal basis. Lincoln refused to meet and, by way of Seward, conveyed false indications of his policy towards Fort Sumter to both the justice and the CSA negotiators.
Finding the new administration completely unwilling to engage in any form of diplomatic settlement to the secession crisis whatsoever, the CSA negotiators then returned to Montgomery. Upon return John Forsyth, one of the negotiators and mayor of Mobile, informed the confederate government of the situation he faced:
"There is little that I can add to letters and telegrams previously dispatched. We never had a chance to make Lincoln an offer of any kind. You can't negotiate with a man who says you don't exist"
Je was already a thief. As I pointed out, it was impossible to recognize him without giving a felony the onus of being a legal act. Doesn't take much of a lawyer to figure that one out.
At that same time the state of South Carolina authorized a negotiating team and sent their Attorney General to Washington for the purpose of negotiating a settlement with the north. The yankees refused to meet with him.
Even later for them. Same issue. The time to negotiate was before the illegal seizure of property belonging to all of the states.
A few weeks later the newly organized CSA government sent a three man team including a US Congressman, a former Governor of Louisiana, and the mayor of Mobile Alabama to Washington for the purpose of negotiating a settlement and delivering payment according to any settled terms. The yankees refused to meet with them.
Of course. They had no right to steal the property in the first place. At a minimum, it was their obligation to return it before attempting to open any discussion on the matter. Since they did not, there was no alternative but to regard them as felons.
After the CSA team had arrived in Washington and found the new Lincoln administration unwilling to negotiate, two sitting US Senators who had not yet seceded (Louis T. Wigfall of Texas and Robert M. T. Hunter of Virginia) offered to serve as intermediaries between the CSA negotiators and the Lincoln administration. Lincoln refused to meet with even the sitting senators.
If the men had asked Hunter and Wigfall to represent them at trial for their crimes, that would have been a different matter, but they didn't.
After Lincoln refused even the senator's offer, a sitting justice of the US Supreme Court offered to act as an intermediary between the CSA negotiators and the Lincoln administration on a strictly informal basis. Lincoln refused to meet and, by way of Seward, conveyed false indications of his policy towards Fort Sumter to both the justice and the CSA negotiators.
Our government still has a standing policy not to negotiate with criminals with the purpose of facilitating their criminal activity.
Finding the new administration completely unwilling to engage in any form of diplomatic settlement to the secession crisis whatsoever, the CSA negotiators then returned to Montgomery. Upon return John Forsyth, one of the negotiators and mayor of Mobile, informed the confederate government of the situation he faced:
"There is little that I can add to letters and telegrams previously dispatched. We never had a chance to make Lincoln an offer of any kind. You can't negotiate with a man who says you don't exist"
While individual states had an implicit right to secede, the formation of a combination was another matter, as was the aborgation of the responsibility of the Federal government to assure a Republican form of government in states that had not legitimately voted to secede.
Besides, any such negotiations would only have been a sham, as the south could never afford to pay back it's debts to the Union. Still can't today. How were they ever to do it then?
Whether or not you contend that any of the southern states left legitimately by popular consent, even one state in the CSA by any other means invalidated it's existence, even if the Constitution did not forbid combinationd formed by secessionary states. Lincoln had no choice.