Just keep in mind, the Confederate states weren’t fighting for their rights, because their rights weren’t being threatened. The Federal government was not trying to free slaves in Confederate states. The secessionists were mad because the federal government wasn’t expanding slavery and enforcing it in abolitionist states. New states joining were allowed to determine if slavery would be legal or not, and the southern Senators didn’t like that other people were deciding for themselves.

The only thing that the Confederate states tried to do, that the federal government said they didn’t have the right to do, was secede. Other than that, it was about preventing other states from making decisions for themselves. They figured if the federal government wasn’t going to enforce federal slavery laws, they didn’t need to be a part of the federal government.

The whole “states rights” rallying cry came out of the Civil Rights era as a counterpoint to the federal government forcing bigots to desegregate.