The fact is they didn't. Many put Southern rights above slaver rights. Had the Confederate government ratified those laws requested by South Carolina, states like Virginia, where manumission was popular, may not have joined the Confederacy. There was a portion of powerful South Carolinians who distrusted Virginians and didn't want anything to do with them; it was the other slave states who overruled South Carolina with its hardline pro-slave views. Making the Confederacy for slave states only, would have left control of slavery to the Confederate federal government. What if a slave State in the future wanted to abolish the system? The state of Texas was discussed, and there was mentioned that that state may reduce its cotton production, restrict slavery and become strictly a cattle producing state. Apparently this issue was hotly debated and almost ended the Confederacy before it started.

Also, the Confederacy was going to have big problem, they needed more states to join, especially the rest of the slave states; had it only been the original seven the threat of slave dumping from the other eight slave states would have collasped their economies. South Carolina members of the convention voiced these fears. A tariff was proposed on any slaves coming from the United States at $1000 per slave and any new slaves from outside the United States at $300.

Part of the orginial plan for secession was the possibility of allowing non-slave states into the Confederacy, the one state that was discussed was southern Illinois and possible the entire state. ALL states were favored to be included except those in New England, that section was permanently never to be included in any new union of states led by the South.

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David Upton