The excerpt supports what point of view about the events leading up to the Civil War?

The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right. Since that time, these encroachments have continued to increase, and further forbearance ceases to be a virtue.

-Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union, 1860


A. National leadership failed to properly resolve the moral question of slavery

B. Dependence on slavery drove states to rebel to preserve their livelihood.

C. States could protect their rights only by withdrawing from the Union.

D. The contest over territorial expansion became a contest for federal power.​