And here I thought the whole deal had more to do with taxation without representation - the South was paying a huge burden compared to the North. I thought that Lincoln decided to "sweeten the pot" and make all the killing of those who disagreed "more palatable" by adding emancipation after the war was underway.
Exactly how were they unrepresented? The South dominated the national government right up to 1860.
The total budget of the federal government in 1860 was $60M. That's less than $2 per capita for the country, less than $7 per capita if paid entirely by the slave states, and less than $12 per capita if paid entirely by white southerners. And of course the taxes were almost entirely tariffs on imports, so the final purchaser of the imported item paid it, whether he did so in New Orleans or Chicago.
The fact is that federal taxes were a miniscule burden for anybody in 1860, and could entirely be avoided if desired simply by not purchasing tariffed items.
Do you seriously contend that this tiny taxation burden, one of the lowest of any nation in history, justified a war that cost over 600k men their lives and devastated a section of the country?
adding emancipation after the war was underway
Let’s not forget that emancipation applied ONLY to those states that were in rebellion. Maryland still had slaves until the thirteenth amendment was ratified.