Calhoun and Rhett secede in 1850.

Allegedly, slavery enthusiasts Calhoun and Rhett almost set up a secession of the Southern slaver states in 1850. Would a Civil War have broken out ? What would Jefferson Davis and Robert Lee's role in such a scenario be ? What would the reaction of the government be ? How feasible were Calhoun and Rhett's plans? How would an early 1850es Civil War have been fought?
 
In 1850 South Carolinians were well aware of their reputation in the rest of the South as hotheads (a reputation dating back from the Nullification Crisis) and decided not to take the initiative on secession unless they had backing from some other states. And that they could not get; Unionist sentiment in the rest of the South was just too strong after the Compromise. In Mississippi, it was so clear that popular opinion opposed secession that John Quitman, the Democratic States Rights candidate for governor, quit and was replaced by Jefferson Davis, who was anti-Compromise but also opposed to secession. But even Davis narrowly lost to the Union party candidate Henry Foote. In Georgia the Unionists won overwhelmingly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Platform

To get southern secession in 1850-1 IMO you have to defeat the Compromise. Some people think that Taylor living would be enough for that. I am not so sure: see https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-zachary-taylor-lives.322359/#post-9429316
 
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