The secession of the southern states is similar to that of the revolution against Britain of the 18th century. According to Jefferson Davis, in his inaugural address as president of the Confederate States of America, separation was a "necessity, not a choice." The southerners believed it was unjust for a group of northern manufactures to govern the southern agrarians, just as it was thought inequitable for a nation thousands of miles away to govern America. The confederate people did not believe in remodeling the government, they kept most everything the same, but they believed in adapting it to fit their lifestyles. They were not given the "inalienable rights" promised to all American people and sought to fix that, just as the colonists had before them.

Jefferson Davis's "most earnest desire" was for a peaceful succession. He believed that independence must be pursued, but "appeal to arms" must be the last solution. He wanted "little rivalry", which would call for "good-will and kind offices on both parts." He knew that the Confederacy, an agricultural society, needed the Union, a manufacturing society, to succeed, and vice versa. Prosperity was in fact the goal of the Confederacy, and Jefferson Davis planned to achieve this as peaceably as possible.