Slamaxe: I like the sound of your close pairing of "successful" and "secession." The two words together just sort of roll off the tongue. As does, "There's many a slip between the cup and the lip."
The thought of merriment in the courthouse squares of small towns in the South during the early months of 1861 did come to my constrained mind, as did the results.
I'd prefer several voluntary confederations of States, to the hungry federal Leviathan, any day of the week. I think that this sort of arrangement is within the bounds of the current U.S. Constitution, as long as the confederation's business is done informally. Guv-to-Guv, so to speak.