Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War

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Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War
According to Charles Dew while writing the book "Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War", why did many Southerners believe their states should secede from the Union after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860?
There is still much debate over the causes of the Civil War centuries after some southerners sought Secession. In his book, "Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War Charles B Dew highlights that it was slavery more than states rights that was associated with Southern secession. Dew is a son of the South, but he had stayed away from the region teaching in the North, and he felt compelled to compare messages surrounding the secession movement where he identified slavery as a central issue. Dew identified various documents showing that the commissioners were concerned with racial equality, the likelihood of racial intermarriages and racial war. Dew chose to focus on the documents that had not received much attention and identified that slavery was the main issue rather than state rights, territorial question, constitutional issues and political abuses.
It is noteworthy that calls for secession increased after the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, as the president was seen as a threat to the south. The commissioners from the Deep South of Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana only saw a need to talk to President Lincoln when he came into power, with many defining their ideology and the racial system. While this explanation has not received much attention recent years, the secessionists talked more openly about the slavery system, but the neo-confederates tend to downplay this. The commissioners were mostly successful in convincing the southerners to join the cause and support secession, and the republican government posed a racial threat to the south. The language adopted to support southern rights was closely tied to the defense of the institution of slavery.
Dew (8) mentioned that months after Lincoln was elected the President the Deep South states sent Southern secession commissioners and delegates to hold talks on secession. The commissioners wore more mostly good orators and this was meant to support the case for secession and they gave public addressees to the public and legislatures. Even as the commissioners spent time highlighting the southern Constitutional complains and concerns, they pointed out that President Lincoln threatened the institution of slavery in the South. Secession was desirable to some Southern because they did not want to be dictated how to address the issue slavery and their way of life.
The election of Abraham Lincoln was monumental and judge Alexander Hamilton Handy argued that the Republican platform wanted to overthrow the constitution and undermine the rights of the South (Dew 45). To Handy, the North and Republican Party would threaten the ability of southerners to own property and this extended to people. He further argued that slavery had been ordained by God contrary to what the black Republicans said, and was furthe...