How did southerners justify secession?
a. they were tired of all of the bickering.
b. they wanted to make their own laws.
c. they did not have the rights to live freely.
d. they had the right to choose to leave the union.
e. all of the above

The answer is letter D, they had the right to choose to leave the Union. The Southerners wanted to leave mainly because they felt that their practice of slavery was being threatened by the Union. They felt that slavery would be abolished. They then referred to the Declaration of Independence as their basis for secession. The Declaration states the principle that a country could change governments when the one they currently have is no longer right for the people. Thus, they believed they had the right to simply leave because the government of the Union was no longer right for them.