But they seceded because Lincoln took steps to reclaim federal forts and other property in the states that had previosuly seceded, not because of the Morrill tax (which had been proposed by James Buchanan and supported by many Democrats).
As the editorials I posted pointed out, passing the Morrill tax played right into the hands of the secessionists and worked against the North in the border states.
More nonsense. Lincoln was very cautious about upsetting the border states and by doing so he was able to keep them all in the Union. In drafting his first inaugural address, he replaced a threat to reclaim forts and other federal property with an intent to enforce import duties in the South, since he and his advisors knew that the latter would not be nearly as objectionable to the border states as the former.
In drafting his first inaugural address, he [Lincoln] replaced a threat to reclaim forts and other federal property with an intent to enforce import duties in the South
What is this, Lincoln vs. Lincoln? Lincoln took steps to reclaim federal forts that wise Lincoln had earlier dropped a threat to do? Talk about two-faced politicians. I guess this is consistent with the Lincoln Administration promising to evacuate Fort Sumter but not doing it. No wonder the Southern Commissioners charged the Lincoln Administration with gross perfidy over Fort Sumter on April 11, 1861, the day before firing on the fort began.
The South, who truly believed they had the constitutional right to secede, could probably argue that actions by Lincoln to reclaim forts located within their states and enforce US duties at their ports were acts of war.