And I'll gladly concede that I'm playing the (extremely) short stack here, but I'm sticking to my guns -- just as I expect you to stick to yours -- and I'll push all-in Every. Single. Time. with this hand ;-)
I wrote up a 3,500 word essay describing said hand, but decided against publishing it here because I really don't think it fits the original article's tone, content, or aim.
Here, however, are a few links to some really interesting articles on the subject of Lincoln, the history behind the divide behind the North and South, and the role slavery played in the Civil War. It was, in fact, a key issue but the situation was several orders of magnitude more nuanced than we were been taught in Social Studies.
Understanding The Causes of The Uncivil War, by Mike Scruggs
Protective Tariffs: The Primary Cause of the Civil War, by David John Marotta and Megan Russell
There are more, but I'm really tired and regretting spending the day compiling the links I have yet to vet and include here. Suffice to say the following, in response to your query as to whether I would support a state's choice to secede:
If the tariff situation in the pre-Civil War USA was substantially as described in the articles I've read on the subject (where the South paid for 80% of the Federal budget but saw 80% of the Federal budget spent in the North to improve their infrastructure, thereby widening the industrial vs. agricultural gap which increasingly divided the North and South) was representative of 'Alabama's treatment by her fellow American States (your example, not mine) then I would categorically support that state's secession.
Furthermore, even if I had no ties to 'Alabama,' (again, your example) I would ask myself one simple question: Do I want to be part of a nation that behaves in such an unfair manner toward one of its most productive member states? (The South was responsible for 2/3 to 4/5 of US exports in the decades leading up to the Civil War)
I'll also say that the abolition of slavery is one of the greatest achievements in our cultural history, and one which I, like the Founders, would wholeheartedly support even at personal expense. But Lincoln made abundantly clear that the Civil War was not about freeing his fellow men from bondage; had he done so, my respect for the man would have increased significantly.
As it is, however, my understanding of the situation leaves me standing firmly beside my previously stated, admittedly controversial position.