[Mr Ramsbotham]

“Was the war about independence? Or was the war being fought primarily to preserve slavery?” said former Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond.

The war was about getting independence so they could preserve slavery.

[Sherman Logan]

Preserve and extend.

The goal, at least of the extremists, was a slave empire extending to the Isthmus and covering all or most of the Caribbean. Some wanted to go all the way to Cape Horn.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/hns/chap13.html

They were utterly delusional in this, of course, as even if they had won independence, the British would never have let them expand slavery, even assuming the rump of the Union would have nothing to say about it.

Given the transportation of the time, the only way to build such an empire was by maritime transport, and the RN ruled the waves.