No. Nothing else that would do it comes to mind, not even the tariff drama. The truth is the South won
almost every battle they fought over tariffs, as well as the expansion of slavery into new territories, and only seceded when they finally lost something significant-- Lincoln's election. (The planter elite really were babies that way.)
And just to be sure we
do understand history here, since some Lost Cause fanboi is sure to pop up at some point-- the war was not over states' vs. federal rights... unless you mean the
right to keep slavery legal.
It was about slavery. Sure the planters were pissed about tariffs and taxes too, but not like they were about slavery. The states' rights stuff didn't figure into the rhetoric of the day
except as relates to slavery and only really became popular with Lost Cause-ism after the war. Read the
declarations of causes of secession of the states that issued them (the opening of Mississippi's is particularly enlightening) and then the
Cornerstone Speech. Not much grey area, there.
In the four state declarations on that page the words "tariff" or "revenue"
never appear, "trade" appears 2 times, and the word "commerce" appears only 4 times- twice referencing either the Constitution or powers that the state now claims for itself after secession, and the other two referencing the
slave trade. Contrast that with variations of the word "slave" or "slavery" which appear
83 times. The word "institution" appears 13 times, about half in concert with the word "slavery" and the other half as a substitute for it.
In the Cornerstone Speech, since it is essentially a recitation of changes in the Confederate Constitution, the word "tariff" appears 1 time, "revenue" 1 time, "trade" 2 times, and "commerce" 5 times. And yet still, variations of "slavery" appear 11 times. "Institution" shows up 6 times-- four times as a substitute for the word "slavery", and at least
arguably the same for the last two. And, Jesus, just read the two paragraphs that cover slavery...