The United States went to war because it's fort was fired upon by rebel forces that had gained control of the state of south Carolina. The United States fought to suppress a rebellion. They later added the war aim of freeing the slaves.
Here's a breakdown of the context of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas's ordinances of secession. Keep in mind that when the phrase states rights is used it's almost exclusively to the right to travel freely with slaves, expansion of slavery into the western territories, holding slaves, etc.
Georgia: 56% Slavery; 23% Economic issues; 15% Context; 4% States' Rights; 2% Lincoln's Election
Mississippi: 73% Slavery; 20% Context; 3% States' Rights; 4% Contest
South Carolina: 37% States' Rights 41% Context; 20% Slavery; 2% Lincoln's election
Texas; 54% Slavery; 21% States' Rights; 15% Context; 6% Military Protection; 4% Lincoln's Election
You can look at the documents yourself and verify what I have posted.
Secession happened because 11 states wanted to free themselves from the Union compact. The slavery issue was not the cause but the effect of Federal overreach. The war “happened” because the North couldn’t accept the secession of these 11 states. Lincoln could have prevented war if he had met the the Southern peace delegation in March of 1861. He even admitted to this in his second inaugural address.
That is undisputable revisionist history. The South could have had a new Amendment (the 13th) protecting their slaves forever, it they had stayed in the Union. But they knew that under Lincoln, and his Hamiltonian economic policies, their wealth would have been plundered, like it was in the 20's and 30's. On the other hand, with perpetual free trade from their Southern ports, they would have flourished. At the same time, the Northern manufactures that relied on protective tariffs would have "suffered" due to increased competition.
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>>OIFVeteran wrote: "The United States went to war because it's fort was fired upon by rebel forces that had gained control of the state of south Carolina. The United States fought to suppress a rebellion. They later added the war aim of freeing the slaves."
The United States went to war because Lincoln wanted to go to war, and he did everything he could think of to precipitate it. Lincolnites tend to forget that Lincoln promised war against any state that refused to collect tariffs for him:
"In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none, unless forced upon the national authority. All the power at my disposal will be used to reclaim the public property and places which have fallen; to hold, occupy and possess these, and all other property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties on imports; but beyond what may be necessary for these, there will be no invasion of any State."
[First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861, in Roy P. Basler, "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln Vol 4." Rutgers University Press, 1953, p.254]
In that same statement you will notice that Lincoln also declared all forts and other buildings within the seceded states belonged to the Union, rather than the states of which they were a part of, including Fort Sumter, a tariff collection depot. Is there any reason to doubt why Lincoln attempted to re-supply Fort Sumter? Not according to this letter:
Capt. G. V. Fox Washington, D.C.
May 1, 1861
My dear Sir
"I sincerely regret that the failure of the late attempt to provision Fort-Sumpter, should be the source of any annoyance to you. The practicability of your plan was not, in fact, brought to a test. By reason of a gale, well known in advance to be possible, and not improbable, the tugs, an essential part of the plan, never reached the ground; while, by an accident, for which you were in no wise responsible, and possibly I, to some extent was, you were deprived of a war vessel with her men, which you deemed of great importance to the enterprise."
"I most cheerfully and truly declare that the failure of the undertaking has not lowered you a particle, while the qualities you developed in the effort, have greatly heightened you, in my estimation. For a daring and dangerous enterprize, of a similar character, you would, to-day, be the man, of all my acquaintances, whom I would select."
"You and I both anticipated that the cause of the country would be advanced by making the attempt to provision Fort-Sumpter, even if it should fail; and it is no small consolation now to feel that our anticipation is justified by the result."
Very truly your friend
A Lincoln[Abraham Lincoln to Gustavus V. Fox, in Roy P. Basler, "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln Vol 4." Rutgers University Press, 1953, pp.350-351]
The bottom line is, Lincoln manipulated events that caused the bloodiest war in American history.
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>>OIFVeteran wrote: "Here's a breakdown of the context of Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas's ordinances of secession. Keep in mind that when the phrase states rights is used it's almost exclusively to the right to travel freely with slaves, expansion of slavery into the western territories, holding slaves, etc.."
That is grossly over-simplified. The chief cause of the secession was the election of the Plunderer-In-Chief, Abraham Lincoln, whose motive since the beginning of his political career in the early 1830's was the promotion of a high protective tariff, an internal improvement system, and a national bank, all requisites of a crony-capitalist. This is believed to be his first political speech:
"Fellow-Citizens: I presume you all know who I am. I am humble Abraham Lincoln. I have been solicited by many friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. I am in favor of a national bank. I am in favor of the internal improvement system, and a high protective tariff. These are my sentiments and political principles. If elected, I shall be thankful; if not it will be all the same."
[Announcement of His Candidacy for the State Legislature, about March 1, 1832, in Henry Clay Whitney, "Life and works of Abraham Lincoln Vol 03: Early Speeches." Current Literature Publishing Co., 1907, p.1]
That was consistently Lincoln's agenda.
Mr. Kalamata