“But why did South Carolina and the other Deep South states secede? “
For the same reason that the British North American colonies seceded from the United Kingdom. Independence and self-government.
Charles Francis Adams Jr wrote eloquently about it in his “Shall Cromwell Have a Statue?” essay.
And being the heir of John and John Quincy Adams, as well as a Union officer he can hardly be dismissed as a Confederate apologist.
What could they do in the Confederacy that they couldn't do in the US? And why was separation so urgent that they couldn't work it out in advance with the rest of the country?
And being the heir of John and John Quincy Adams, as well as a Union officer he can hardly be dismissed as a Confederate apologist.
CFA Jr. led an African-American cavalry regiment in the war and his experiences and reactions turned him against any notions of racial equality. He wasn't the only New Englander to repudiate his earlier idealism after the war. It wasn't any surprise that Adams became such an admirer of Robert E. Lee and such a critic of African-Americans and the Union cause later on.