To the credit of our Southern brothers, a plurality believed that they would be attacked by the North, that they would not be allowed to secede (not succeed) from the Union. Great statemen on both sides rent their garments when the gunfire started. Look at Northern California today. Would they be allowed to secede from California and join Oregon, or form their own State? I think in theory the answer is of course, but in practice it is extraordinarily unlikely, unless another State was also formed (NYC and Long Island immediately come to mind) to placate the two political parties in power.