This Democratic Underground article accuses anyone involved in the Confederacy of outright treason, and tars current supporters of their Confederate forebears with the same brush. Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't quite agree, and it has nothing to do with slavery or state's rights per se, but an understanding of history.
Let me get something out in the open before I go on. My Mother's family is an old Southern one. They've lived in the South since the 1600's. One of my ancestors enlisted in the Continental Army. Several, including my Great-Great Grandfather fought for the Confederacy. Some of the cousins were killed at Cold Harbor. My Great-Great Grandfather was a POW at the Union POW camp at Ship Island, Mississippi. While I disagree with the cause they were fighting for, I am proud that they fought (and honestly after conscription began they had little choice in the matter).
I think slavery was (and is) an abhorrent institution. At best, it was repugnant, at worst, evil. I''m not sure that I accept the argument that the states could leave the Union at anytime. I don't know that that makes the Confederates traitors for trying to leave and start their own country.
I cringe every time I see a redneck with the Stars and Bars on his pickup, because nine times out of ten, he's a racist punk with no understanding of what the real issues were. I'm ambivalent about the flag issue in southern states. My thought is that the flag is part of history, but we shouldn't be keeping it on public buildings. But then, I don't live in South Carolina, so my opinion doesn't matter much.
Today, we would see states trying to leave as traitors and we would be right. That's what the Civil War was about, after all. That's why we say "The United States is", not the "United States are" in a conversation. Above all else, the war decided the supremacy of the Federal Government and the Union.
The argument that COnfederacy made was based on several things. First, they had a Constutional set of arguments. The Constitution has two competing items that were germane to the Civil War and Secession. Whether Secession is alowed is more or less based on these. The first item is the elastic clause, which says that the Congress can make any law the is necessary and proper. The second item is the clause stating that any power not specifically given to the Federal government belongs to th states. Using these two items, it is possible to argue that Congress can enact legislation either allow, or disallowing, states from leaving thw Union. It can also be argued that since breaking the Union is not mentioned in the Constitution, then Secession is a right left to the states.
Obviously, the Southern States felt that they were allowed to leave and the Northern ones felt they weren't.
The other area used to bolster their claim for leaving was the Social Contract theory, espoused by John Locke, which formed the basis of the American Revolution, which took place less that one hundred years before the Civil War. According to Social Contract Theory, governments rule by the consent of the governed, and that is is the responsibility of the governed to replace the government if they feel it is no longer doing an acceptable job. Social Contract Theory held armed rebellion as a resonable option in extreme circumstances, which lead to both the American and French Revolutions.
Knowing this, it is hard to condemn the Confederates out of hand, even if you aren't related to any. After all, without these ideas, we'd still be part of England. This is also the philosophy that has lead generations of Americans to support revolutions in other lands. That is, until recently. Now we call revolutionaries terrorists, along with the criminals that really are terrorists. Buts that's a different argument.