"How so? What demonstrable danger did the secession of the Southern States present if they had been allowed to leave in peace as they requested?"
TR,
I don't think that is what they were doing. They were not trying to leave in peace. They were trying to DICTATE to the rest of the states and the Federal government. If they really wanted to leave in peace, why did they as individual states petetion the Federal Government in court for redress. They were saying we are leaving and if you don't like it, we will speak to you from the mouth of our guns. That my friend is what they were tryiing to do. Had they not been so emotional and had they tried the courts, they might have pulled it off. Had they tried to do it through the courts and were not successful, they at least would have had the sympathy of the other nations. Instead the other nations saw them as they were, rebels. Why did the other nations not recoginze them?
FC