The secession of South Carolina and the conspiracy of it is VERY complicated on who controlled it at any given time. It may have been an original idea to go it alone, or some South Carolinians thought that was the plan.

The question is did the secession conspirators run the secession completely or did it get taken from them by the turn of history? I mean did they lose control of the momentum due to unseen events? How did the movement know Anderson was going to move into Fort Sumter? How did the movement know Buchanan would sent the Star of the West? How did they know Lincoln would send the ships? A group of conspirators in certain states did agreed to support South Carolina, but it would be the people, the press, and the powers of politics that would drive the other states to actually have elections, conventions, and popular votes to secede. If it was planned all along by a small group of men, no plan ever went so perfectly.
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David Upton