The response of anybody interested in liberty is that we all have a say and the ability to have an argument is exactly what liberty is even though it may never be resolved. In any authoritarian society the possessor of power dictates and if you try and step outside he will come after you.
What happened in America in the 1860s was a war of secession a war of independence no different in principle from what happened in America in the 1770s and 1780s.
In all her history from the formation of the federal government until the hour of secession no year stands out more prominently than the year 1858 as evidencing the national patriotism of Virginia.