One reason I hate living in the south.

[makingmusic476]

Slavery was not the main issue during the civil war. It was only through Slavery, or rather, the fight to gain political power through increasing the number of Slave/Free states, that animosity between the North and South due to other factors (like those I outlined above) manifested itself.

Honestly, the entire notion that a man would send his sons to die just so he could keep his slaves is ludicrous. Or hell, why would 95% of the population fight so valiantly just so that the other 5% could keep people in bondage. Why would the majority of poor formers fight the the rights of a few rich plantations owners, especially when these poor farmers were often in direct competition with slaves for work?

Also, Lincoln said multiple times in his debates with Stephen Douglas that though he was morally opposed to slavery (yet still held the belief that whites were superior to blacks, and only wanted them freed so they could be sent back to Africa, because he felt that whites and blacks should not live together, but that's another issue for another day), he felt it would be wrong to end slavery, and he had no intention of doing so should he have been elected.

Hell, in his inaugural address he stated he would willingly sign the (original) 13th amendment, which would've forbid any future amendments to the Constitution involving the ending of Slavery, should the Southern States have chosen to come back to the Union. Our own constitution would've essentially enshrined the act of slavery! The Southern States would have nothing of it, though.

Lincoln truly had no intentions of ending slavery. Even with the war, Lincoln states multiple times that his goal was only to save the Union. Or rather, ensure that Federal Government coffers were lined with Southern dollars. It had nothing to do with freeing the slaves.