Stephen, you could replace "the cause of the War for Southern Independence" with "the cause for South Carolina's secession" in my previous post and I still think Gordon's explanation prevails.

In South Carolina, there were many causes over a long period of time leading up to "Lincoln and the Republican Party" which was "A" cause, even the "LAST" cause, but not THE Cause.

I think it best we agree to disagree. We simply have two different, seemingly irreconcilable viewpoints on how history plays out.