Outsider:  It's tough to rewrite history, but I'll give you credit for trying.  The Southern economy was premised on slavery and the leaders perceived, probably correctly, that the end of slavery would cause a tremendous upheavel in Southern life...both culturally and economically.  Those leaders also perceived (again, likely very correctly) that, with the election fo Abraham Lincoln and the ever-growing power of the Abolitionist movement, slavery in the U.S. was coming to an end....and likely in the near future.  Rather than seek to negotiate as favorable a transition as possible, likely including compensation for emancipated slaves, the South chose to secede.  It's no surprise that most the young men in the South chose to support secession. They were raised in the South and slavery was part of the values system of their lives.  ....and, yes, those damn Yankees were going to end slavery.  Gary Crum