If you read the 1959 Charleston newspaper on microfilm at the Charleston Free Library, as I did, the year was marked by slave uprisings (Haiti, Denmark Vesey etc.) and abolitionist disturbances. Most southerners did not own slaves, but they feared civil unrest and attacks if the slaves were uncontrolled and did not know how the peace could be kept if slavery were abolished. When the Governor called for Secession, and the north responded militarily, the war became a states rights/defense of homeland issue.