Are you a lawyer? You keep looking around for some law to follow. The founders weren't following any British law. They tried that route and finally gave up on it. They started a damn revolution! That is never "legal" under any system of laws. But it can be morally justified, and I think the revolution of 1776 was more than morally justified. I do not think the revolution of 1861-65 was morally justified in any sense.
Another hint: When starting a revolution, be sure you can win it.
Ridiculous statement. The founders had no arms and no ships when they broke from the most powerful nation on earth. They had no chance to win! Yet, they did win because THEY PUT THEIR TRUST IN GOD, and clearly, they believed that GOD won the Revolution for them, as Washington and Franklin and the Congress declared.
The civil war was not a noble war. It was the result of the failure of the founders to deal with slavery in 1787. They made a big mistake, and the nation paid for its transgressions in blood. Lincoln said the judgment of God fell on the ENTIRE NATION and obviously it did. The north suffered greatly during the war, albeit not as much as the south.