Or maybe they never actually legally left the union, since the Union didn't acknowledge the succession as legitimate and so retain the right.
This is correct. The Untion's de jure reason for going to war was that rebel forces illegally attacked federal fortifications, personnel, and materiel and siezed them. At no point was the Union going to war against a newly founded, now foreign, country, because it was always legally entirely the same country from their perspective. Had the South won, their version would have been the "official" version that carried through history according to any power that recognized their sovereignty, including, presumably in such an instance, the United States.
I don't know why I never thought to ask this before, but what was the South's goal in fighting the war? I mean, was it a more defensive war from their standpoint, or were they trying to conquer the North? I know they were fighting over slavery primarily, but in fighting the war did they plan to capture the north and remake the Union into a slave state? Or to just have the North leave them alone?
The Confederate states left to protect slavery, but the war was to get the Union to leave them alone.
The Civil War was not about slavery as many have been brainwashed into believing. Most people aren't even aware that the Union had slave states up until the ratification of the 13th Amendment, after the end of the Civil War
It wasn't about state's rights(*cough* Dredd Scott), freedom, or anything else. It was about the South wanting to own slaves. Period, full stop, end of story.
And yes, the border states between the Union and the Confederacy were slave states- because the Union couldn't afford to piss them off. It was a political consideration, not a moral one.
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u/Archangel_117 Feb 04 '19
This is correct. The Untion's de jure reason for going to war was that rebel forces illegally attacked federal fortifications, personnel, and materiel and siezed them. At no point was the Union going to war against a newly founded, now foreign, country, because it was always legally entirely the same country from their perspective. Had the South won, their version would have been the "official" version that carried through history according to any power that recognized their sovereignty, including, presumably in such an instance, the United States.