1. The State had always been supreme: each was a distinct sovereignty,
not subject to the general government in matters of their own home rule.

2. The interests of the South were injured by the burden of tax for the
benefit of the North.

3. The Republican party had determined that slavery should not be
admitted in the territories--the Republicans were in power, and
foreseeing further interference in their rights, the South thought the
time had come to form an independent government.

4. The North refused to accept the compromise proposed by Senator John
J. Crittenden of Kentucky, which might have averted the war. Nor would
she consent to submit the matter to a vote of the people; hence there
was no chance for harmony. The aggressive measures of the North were
such as no self-respecting State in the South could endure.

It had come to be a habit in Congress, to insult the South because she
held slaves.

Reason and right alike succumbed to prejudice and hatred, and the
dissatisfied States, weary of wrong and oppression, sounded the note
of separation; and from every throat burst the refrain;--

We are a band of brothers,
Native to the soil,
Fighting for the property,
We've gained by honest toil.

* * * * *