It’s complete nonsense to claim the Deep South seceded for any major reason other than protecting slavery.
Slavery is what they said at the time and any other reasons listed are clearly secondary, clearly just “politics as usual”, nothing powerful enough to motivate millions of otherwise loyal Americans to declare secession.
Only slavery could do that, and so that is what Fire Eater leaders emphasized, regardless of what else might be their hidden “real reasons”.
Its complete nonsense to claim they seceded to protect slavery when slavery was not threatened in the US. They were happy to cite the fact that the Northern states violated the compact by refusing to enforce the fugitive slave clause of the constitution, but their real concern - like people always - was money. The tariff and unequal federal expenditures touched every person’s wallet in the Southern states be they the small minority who owned slaves or the large majority who did not.
See my post #229 above.
Confederates in five of the original seven secession states listed slavery as their major or only reason.
Two more Deep South and two Upper South states gave no reasons, period.
Two Upper South states -- Virginia and Arkansas -- said they seceded over "injury", "oppression" or "coercion".
Note again the link in my post #229 to some very interesting analysis of "Reasons for Secession" documents.
FLT-bird: "They were happy to cite the fact that the Northern states violated the compact by refusing to enforce the fugitive slave clause of the constitution, but their real concern - like people always - was money. "
Then you are effectively accusing Confederate leaders of lying in 1860 & early 1861 when they said it was slavery.
I'm sure you may be correct regarding the top 1% of 1% of Southerners who were concerned about issues of finance or "money flows from Europe", but all of that was politics as usual, had been since Day One in 1788.
Only slavery had the emotional power to move millions of otherwise patriotic Southerners to declare secession & war on their own country, the United States.