I understand what you're saying, and I agree we shouldn't paint history with too broad a brush, but the documents which called for, explained the causes of, and justified the secession of the deep South states were primarily about slavery. I'm not saying that in condemnation of our ancestors. After all, slavery back then was legal and was the engine that drove the economy of the deep South. The institution was codified by the law, the Constitution and decisions of the Supreme Court. I don't know why so many modern-day Southerners try to run and hide from the facts, and to engage in all sorts of mental gymnastics to explain away the institution of slavery. It was a fact of life.

The question that started this thread was, as I understand it, was secession the right course of action to take to resolve the slavery issue. Clearly, in hindsight, it was not. The South lost everything and left us saddled with three generations of grinding poverty, ignorance, and a racial problem that just won't quit.