There is one flaw to your statement of "He saw the South's attempted secession as illegal, and resisted it."

Lincoln also said that secsession was illegal, but so was the government forcing them back into the Union, or something like that. I left my book at work. I'll bring home tomorrow and give a precise quote.

So he prefered to break one law to keep someone else from breaking another. In today's terms we would call him a dirty cop. Aint that right Ken and TOG.