And the Declaration of Independence:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."
Maybe there's something about the right of self-determination you don't understand.
Or maybe you wish the 13 British colonies would re-join the Kingdom.
I don't know which.
But if you believe 13 British colonies had the right to secede, then you must believe that 13 sovereign Southern States, which granted a few, delegated powers to a federal union (and 3 of them clearly stated when they joined that they retained the right to reclaim the powers given the federal government when they joined), and that federal government was based on the power of self-determination, then those 11 Southern states CLEARLY had the power to secede.
Admit it. Lincoln destroyed the very thing the founding fathers fought for.
Or maybe you think ALL tyrant rulers have the power to use military force to force governments on people who want independence.....
Jefferson Davis certainly acted upon that principle of the tyrant in his dealings with Unionist East Tennessee. The majority of East Tennesseans wished to remain in the Union, voted twice to stay in the Union and regarded with doubt the election that finally rubber stamped the Tennessee secession engineered by the politicians and not the people. The people in my part of the world feared the slaveowners' tyranny coming from Richmond more than any tyranny that could come from Washington.
They didn't have a right to secede, which is why it's called the "Revolutionary War". They knew that their actions weren't legal and that they would have to fight.
Or maybe you think ALL tyrant rulers have the power to use military force to force governments on people who want independence.....
And what acts of tyranny were the southern states subject to?