What I am getting at, is why did they feel that those reasons were just reasons to seceed? Why was there more mistrust of the government then than at any other time in United States history, until maybe the present times? While lately I have heard some say that maybe we need to seceed again I do not believe that we are at that point now as they were then. Why? It is because we are not now undergoing a fundamental permanate change of our government that we can not change back in the next election cycle.
It wasn't about slaves, it was about something deeper, it was about something that they feared and it wasn't about a slave rebellion. It was, in my belief, about their fear of the loss of their freedoms. That one part of the country, the Northern states and their politicians were about to exercise domination over them. It was about the fear of the tyrany of the majority in a Democracy. This country was not formed under the concept that the majority of states could rule over those who disagreed with that majority. If it had been so then this country would have never been formed. It was about the loss of the rule of law.
Since this is "Constitution Week", This country was formed as a Republic, not a Democracy. There is a difference between these two types of Government. We call Lincoln the "Great Centralizer", Why? Because he changed the interpretation of the powers of the Government had under the Constitution. He used the power of the many in the North to control the few in the South and to establish that control in the way that government ruled over the people of this country. That if we do not do what the Government says, we fear the power of that government. If for example you do not pay your income taxes why do you fear the I.R.S.? Because of the power of that government and its hold on your lives. That is what I believe they feared. While none could see into the future, they could read the signs of the coming storm. The rise of the tyrany of the majority and yes even morality over the rule of law.