Yes, I can feel that tension in peoples writings of the period.

I am reading my copy of "Confederate Mississippi The People and Policies of a Cotton State in Wartime" by J. K. Bettersworth. I'm on Chapter 4 and its hard to put down. Slavery is mentioned like a common eliment or uniting cause more than a reason for secession, in fact the issue is barely mentioned up to this point in the book.

David