Stephen, you said: "So folks The War for Southern Independence wasn't about Slavery. Period. It was about rights. A person's rights to act in a legaly accepted way."

"All the additives that went into the secession, boil down to Rights, Period. Slavery was an issue on rights, did the Southerners have the Right to keep slaves."

Your hypothetical situation is interesting and useful to a point. But it misses a great deal...mainly because Lincoln and the Republican party did not actually try to stop Southerners from "doing it," but prevent it from expanding.

In other words, it would be more like Kevin and Chase telling Jamie and Joe, "You can do it at your house, but you cannot eat watermelon in your underwear in the new neighborhoods being built."

Despite Lincoln's repeated assurances before and right after his election that he had no intent to interfere with slavery where it existed (they could eat watermelon in their underwear as much as they wanted where they were), most Southerners still saw him and the Republican party as a threat to their interests. In fact, does anyone here believe that Lincoln ran on a platform dedicated to forefully abolishing slavery in the South?

What actual Southern "rights" did Lincoln's election threaten or violate?

It does come back to slavery, for even a defense of a legal "right" is often based upon an acceptance of the act. For instance, I wonder how many pro-Life Americans would fight against the government for taking away the "right" of abortion?