Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tom
It is the lie we have been fed, the war started because the lower States did not want the man in their business, period no matter what it was. As mentioned slavery was perhaps one of those things but not the main or only reason, sorry.
Maybe Tom clarifies or amends this statement later in the thread. Regardless, the problem with his analysis is that it is incorrect. Slavery was absolutely THE reason the civil war occurred. Not emancipation certainly (a by-product of the war and the Union victory) but to keep slavery legal and therefore, in the minds of southerners, protect the southern slave-dependent economy.
Slavery dominated the national debate basically from the Louisiana Purchase forward until Lincoln's election in 1860. Lincoln was elected on Nov 6th and South Carolina voted to secede on Dec 20th, and it wasn't because they didn't want "the man" in their business. It was because the wrongfully believed Lincoln was an abolitionist who would destroy the south's way of life.