When the southern states seceded they told us why they were seceding. The reasons were given in various declaration of causes documents.
All you need is the ability to read those documents to understand their reasons.
A search for the word slave in this page https://www.battlefields.org/learn/primary-sources/declaration-causes-seceding-states will demonstrate clearly why they were seceding.
at the heart of this entire reasoning is the question of whether or not they had the Right to choose a path different than the other states. States rights vs. federal rights has always been a cactus in the middle of a swarm of balloons.
Virginia was the most important among them. Why did Virginia secede?
Stop letting the minority of 4 states speak for the majority of 11.
And for what it's worth, Columnist Paul Craig Roberts explains *WHY* they specifically mentioned "slavery" as their reasons for secession even though Lincoln and the Republicans voted for the Corwin amendment which would protect slavery indefinitely by US Constitutional amendment.
When the North offered slavery forever by express constitutional amendment....when the US congress (AFTER the Southern delegation had withdrawn) passed a resolution stating explicitly that they were not fighting about slavery, it was clear that nobody was fighting about slavery.
Sorry - You missed the point of the discussion. The war was instigated by the North because the North could not exist financially without the Southern tariff revenue. So they had to fight. Even Lincoln could live with Slavery (as stated in the article) - he was fighting to hold the union together.
“All you need is the ability to read those documents to understand their reasons.”
Lot’s of other things to read out there mate. For openers, try any of Thomas Delorenzo’s works. Might open your eyes...they did mine and I was brainwashed like everyone else in school about the Civil War.
Arkansas,Tennesee, Virginia and North Carolina all seceded to stop the “federal invasion” of the South. Slavery was not mentioned at all in their secession ordinances.