[DoodleDawg]

Are you going to tell me this person is not a real expert?

I would doubt that BroJoeK would call himself an expert, any more than I would call myself an expert. I consider myself widely read on the subject but I also freely admit that there are far more learned individuals on this forum than I am. BroJoeK has his beliefs and opinions, and if he truly believes the North fought to end slavery then I would respectfully disagree with him.

[BroJoeK]

jeffersondem: "Are you going to tell me this person is not a real expert?"

DoodleDawg: "I would doubt that BroJoeK would call himself an expert, any more than I would call myself an expert.
I consider myself widely read on the subject.."

Correct.

DoodleDawg: "BroJoeK has his beliefs and opinions, and if he truly believes the North fought to end slavery then I would respectfully disagree with him."

I'm not trying to exaggerate the role of slavery, simply to prevent our partisan pro-Confederates from denying that it was important, to both sides.

The question is: how important?
The answer is: very important as demonstrated by:

1. Slavery's numerous & central mentions in Deep South "Reasons for Secession" documents and speeches.

2. Confederates' refusal to adopt George Washington's Revolutionary War practice of offering slaves freedom in exchange for military service.

3. Confederates' refusal to accept the Union's offer of compensated abolition.

4. Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic, sung by Union soldiers at the time, and by Patriots ever sense.

5. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, issued after victory at the Battle of Antietam.

6. The use of large numbers of African-American soldiers and freed support workers by the Union Army.

7. The 13th Amendment especially, and also 14th & 15th.

Sure, super-sharp hair-splitting lawyers might claim: "Civil War was not about slavery", but nobody at the time made such arguments.

They all understood intuitively what it was.