The correct answer is A) Through votes in their state legislatures and signatures of Southern voters on petitions.
After the presidential election of 1860, many Southern states started to leave the Union. One of the main reasons behind this mass exodus from the US was the election of Abraham Lincoln. Many Southern citizens and politicians felt that Lincoln would try to get rid of the institution of slavery within the US. Slavery was an essential part of the Southern economy at this time, as slave labor and the cotton gin resulted in the Southern states becoming extremely profitable (especially through trade with European countries like France and Great Britain).
