If Merkel was Lincoln, she definitely would be. That was “honest Abe’s” reaction to secession here, after all.
There's a lot about Pres. Lincoln to admire, he was a decent God-fearing man, but he got the Framers wrong and what the Union should be, in my humble opinion.
Despite Pres. Lincoln's many attributes and wisdom on so many other matters regarding Federal governance, he got the core things wrong, freedom of association, the First Amendment and 9th and 10th.
How can the spirit of freedom be upheld by the crushing power of the Federal government over-riding the will of the voters of those states?
I may be a far-North yankee, but on purely constitutional considerations, Pres. Lincoln was in the wrong.
The Federal Government can pretend that people are "free" when they have the people at gunpoint/bayonets.
Sorry to wander off topic a bit, but most people then and now just generally want the government to leave them and their property the hell alone