Northern labor markets weren't by any means much less than slavery either. Blacks got jobs white man would not do at pay a white man would not accept. Then there was a matter of the Union Army itself even all the way through WW2 actually. Shedding blood is shedding blood and war is war. If you have a man fighting for your cause would you not allow him among your ranks even though his skin is brown? BTW it was USCT who built the most remote and roughest portions of the Trans Alaska highway in WW2 and they had far less equipment, food, shelter, you name it.
USCT United States Colored Troops, their bodies lie in segregated graves in national cemeteries in both the north and the south. Actually Confederates are also buried there but the Confederate whie is among Union white vets. I know of what I say because I once worked at one.
Slavery wasn't the issue of The Civil War it was made the issue by politicians but the real war was plain and simple a trade war. A hand full of men in the nation wanted control of all trade including southern trade. They built their factories and fortunes on the backs of slaves themselves black and white alike then when it became a liability and a means to control upcoming southern industry they used slavery abolition as a tool.
Very honorable men on both sides died but slavery continued in this nation well into the early 1960's in some places. Who was the master? One of the largest was coal companies who built towns back in the boonies and owned all the land including the houses they rented to miners plus they owned the store. Currency was script or tokens redeemable at the company store. That was often also the pay. The income was never enough to satisfy the debt owed the store aka the company. Laws were as such the debt holder could hunt you down and have you jailed.
Apprenticeships also existed and involved white parents more or less turning a child over to a company to {cough cough} teach them a skill. It was a contracted obligation and escaping by running away was breech of it.
Slavery would have likely ended sooner in all regions of the nation and without blood shed had it been allowed to exist even twenty - thirty more years. Technology would have resolved it just as technology ended the mining stores hold. The mining issue was in both north and south of the Mason/Dixon line and even small wars were fought over it years afterward up to the early 1900's.
The history books portrayed slave owners as all of them beat slaves etc. Actually many did not it would be counterproductive. Injured slaves can't work. Beating a horse or mules results in mayhem as well. But a few who did do as such became the history because it served the purpose of justifying the war in history books. Many slaves in the south returned the the farms, factories, & plantations, they worked at as slaves before the war. No Jobs for anyone.
Slavery carries a huge moral responsibility to the owner Biblically really more so than the slave.
The Generals who fought the war mended friendships afterward. Many were academy grads. Constitution and Founders Intent wise I think CSA was far closer to what was first envisioned by the founding fathers than what followed in the US Government afterward.
I've seen 48 of the 50 states & I've seen about eight different nations. The south is home.
One can go days on FR with only mundane news stories and analysis. Then you get a comment like yours. Not really a comment, really, more like a mini-essay. In any event, you obviously have done your homework, and I am sure you had to boil the snot out of a lot you learned or was taught to hit the true note like you did. I am so glad you posted this.
Very good post, it was a good read.
I always told folks that the war was about centralizing power in DC. I never understood why Lincoln was so revered. He began in my opinion, the decline of the US.