Not according to the News papers of 1859 and 1860. It was not the issue of the institution of slavery or expansion of same, it was the radical terrorist attacks by abolitionist supported by states like Massachusetts against Southern states like Virginia and Texas. The issue that pushed Southerners into seriously thinking about secession was the perceived attacks by abolitionist and slave insurrection plots. With an abolitionist ally like Lincoln being elected president the old arguments by the fire-eaters resurfaced and they dusted off the 1850s secession movement. With the fear of slave revolts, an unfriendly Federal Government, and terrorist attacks from Northern States, the fire-eaters had an easy time pushing their agenda.
Historians lately have forgotten John Brown's Raid and how much it affected the once Union loving South in a fairly short amount of time. New England was first to mobilize their militia not the South. It was the abolitionist governors who wanted war, not the South.