What also shouldn't be understated was the sentiment of the Union, while not being entirely sovereign, still being something to feel loyalty to. The Union commanded a strong sentiment in both sections, the feeling of a common destiny for all of the English-speaking ex-colonies that successfully revolted from Great Britain in the late 18th Century, whatever their individual differences. That for said Union to be divided would result not in greater freedom for the states, but the horrors of warfare and of European meddling in North American affairs. Indeed, that the failure of the Union would bring a cry of triumph and vindication from the courts of Europe, of confirmation of their biases against popular government by and for the people.
What eventually overpowered this was the loyalty of so many Southerners to their social system, built on slavery and the perceptions baked into it. Loyalty to slavery had to be professed and failure to do so adequately led to damaging charges of disloyalty to family, friends, neighbors, and homes by political adversaries. You had to stump for slavery, push for it, you could never let yourself be found wanting, and if accused the best defense was a good offense: your foe is the true softheart!
This led to the woeful pattern of Southern pushes for "protections" of slavery, even if it undermined the Union's institutions, as Southerners would goad each other into demanding more and more. The Gag Rule, the way that the annexation of Texas was accomplished (Texas was seen as vital to the defense of slavery due to concerns that Houston might bring Texas into English orbit and attract loads of free labor English immigrants by beginning to abolitionize), then the Fugitive Slave Act and the demolishing of the Missouri Compromise with the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Each step furthered Northern discontent with the South and the feeling that in the defense of slavery Southerners would fasten shackles to the political and civil liberties of the North as well. This ultimately led to the rise of the Republican Party and the desperate straits of Northern Democrats, who often were maneuvered into voting for pro-slavery actions by the vocal Southern influence of their party.
What eventually overpowered this was the loyalty of so many Southerners to their social system, built on slavery and the perceptions baked into it. Loyalty to slavery had to be professed and failure to do so adequately led to damaging charges of disloyalty to family, friends, neighbors, and homes by political adversaries. You had to stump for slavery, push for it, you could never let yourself be found wanting, and if accused the best defense was a good offense: your foe is the true softheart!
This led to the woeful pattern of Southern pushes for "protections" of slavery, even if it undermined the Union's institutions, as Southerners would goad each other into demanding more and more. The Gag Rule, the way that the annexation of Texas was accomplished (Texas was seen as vital to the defense of slavery due to concerns that Houston might bring Texas into English orbit and attract loads of free labor English immigrants by beginning to abolitionize), then the Fugitive Slave Act and the demolishing of the Missouri Compromise with the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Each step furthered Northern discontent with the South and the feeling that in the defense of slavery Southerners would fasten shackles to the political and civil liberties of the North as well. This ultimately led to the rise of the Republican Party and the desperate straits of Northern Democrats, who often were maneuvered into voting for pro-slavery actions by the vocal Southern influence of their party.