thorn69

The simple fact that Lincoln didn't free any slaves until mid-war should be evident enough that the war was not fought over slavery. Lincoln himself said something along the lines of wishing he could end the war without freeing a single slave at one point during the war when he thought it was getting too nasty to stomach. This is further evidence that slavery was not Lincoln's main focal point for going to war. Why would he mentally abandon his main goal, if slavery was his main goal, for going to war? That doesn't make any sense at all! If that was the case, he would have just retreated and ended the war!

So again, for the umpteenth time, it was fought over the States seceding themselves from the Union. You have to remember that the north won the war so it was therefore given the customary "bragging rights" that most winners tend to get. However, there was quite a bit of guilt in the stomachs of many northerners after the war and there is plenty of evidence of this. They had to come up with some sort of nonsensical motive to justify their invasion of the South and for all the mass murder, raping, pillaging, burning cities to the ground, etc... So, to make themselves look noble rather than barbaric the whole "we did it to free the slaves and reunite the country" themes emerged AFTER the war. Do you really think they'd ever admit any form of guilt - especially when they won?

Just answer this: Why was the war fought over slavery when the Southern States had already seceded from the Union? The South was a separate country at that point. So why would the northerners really care about slavery anymore in THEIR own country? It was gone when the South left! The north had their own country to run anyway they saw fit and if they didn't want slavery then so be it. So, why invade another country and conquer it? So there's further evidence for you that the war wasn't fought over slavery.

I do agree that slavery falls into the mix but it wasn't the single focal point of the war. Even Lincoln himself didn't free a single slave until mid-war. So there's further evidence that it was not really about slavery, at least to him.

Honestly, I think up north the war was fought over financial reasons and control of the South. In the South, the war was fought for the States rights to secede from the Union and to escape the hands of a very controlling and tyrannical north. In a way, the north may have freed individual black slaves but it still enslaved the entire South as a whole AFTER the war by still demanding cotton and other raw goods be farmed and delivered. It's quite ironic really.