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Before you chide me on the wall of text (something that the computer did) I edited that post into a more readable form.

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You [DoodleDawg] wrote:

Not really, no. Your contention was that slavery was an afterthought. That it didn't enter into the equation until long after the rebellion began. In fact it was the reason for the rebellion and withouth it the South wouldn't have launched their war.

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Your reading comprehension is lacking. My contention is that the Civil War was about State's Rights. And you confuse the institution of slavery (economic) with the individual slave (mopral).

The South went to war about State's Rights and to preserve the institution of slavery. Freeing of the slave not slavery was the afterthought in this war. Lincoln sided with the Abolitionist and some say he was. However, his stance was to keep the status quo rather than rock the boat. The slaves freed in DC was not something Lincoln brought forward, meaning he didn't actively campaign for it. It was brought forward by a Senator in Congress and then passed almost 1 year into Lincoln's presidency. Lincoln gets the credit because he signed the Bill into law. Here is a quote from Lincoln in his first Inauguration Address on March 4, 1861 (remember I stated the the institution of slavery not slavery itself. If you are confused on this aspect, think of agriculture as an institution but the farmer who participates in that industry. When speaking of the institution of slavery, this is about all aspects of slavery not just the slave himself)

"I declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.'

Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations and had never recanted them. And more than this, they have placed in the platform for my acceptance and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read: 'Resolved, that the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to to its own judgement exclusively, is essential to the balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes."

Lincoln goes on to question slavery as it stands in the Constitution, but not only of the African slave,

"Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in several States?"

Lincoln in the above quote is referring to the clause of the Constitution in which he states in his speech

"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the law thereof, escaping into another shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."

Lincoln was all about the rule of law and enforcing said law. Lincoln hated slavery, he believed it was protected by the Constitution. Seven states had already announced their secession at the time of his inauguration. The Rule of Law is one of his largest traits as President as he studied law before becoming President.

Here he is talking to the fact that African slaves made it North could be free and he stating no because of the US Constitution this was not true. An African slave who was found in the North could be taken back to their owner because of the Constitution. Remember the Underground Railroad? During Lincoln's campaign and his entrance into becoming President, Lincoln had no intention of freeing the African slave. This is one of the biggest misnomers about President Lincoln. Lincoln was more about the rule of law than the freeing of slaves.

Then there is the famous letter to the influential editor, Horace Greeley, of the New York Times on August 22, 1862:

"As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you [Horace Greeley] say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free. Yours, A. Lincoln."

Up until September 1862, the main focus of the war had been to preserve the Union.

With the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation freedom for slaves now became a legitimate war aim. As to States' rights, most do not know President Lincoln was elected without a single Southern Electoral vote (A reason why Electoral College is so important? Since then the demoncraps have been trying to get rid of it). I actually addressed one aspect of States' rights through the Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854 and the battle that ensued. Without going further into detail, I should have addressed it more. The Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854 was to address the Western Expansion of the United States. Those proponents of Slavery wished to take slavery West. The Federal Government, through the Act of 1854, left it up to the people of the territory when the territory became a state. The Battle that ensued along the Missouri border was about those who wanted slaves in Kansas and those who did not. People were killed on each side and is debated as the "unofficial" start of the Civil War a few years later.

President Lincoln while against slavery as an Abolitionist and a true Republican (not the repubes we have in office today) did not take this task lightly. It is documented that he came to the decision to free the slaves only during the Civil War. He saw the blood being spilt to keep the United States together and that was one of his major focuses. However, he could not justify himself with God that the blood spilt in the name of our Forefathers when they wrote that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal...". And it was Madison that explained years after Constitutional Convention that this clause in the Declaration of Independence would eventually lead to freedom of the slaves and its ending of slavery. This is why the words "slave" and "n-gro" do not appear anywhere in the Declaration nor the Constitution.

So the freeing of the slaves was a decision by Lincoln during the war about issues dealing with slavery. Slavery was a major issue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 as Madison stated there was more to the slavery issue than was recorded and it remained a pervasive and persistent issue leading up to the Civil War in 1861.

The issue was at the forefront of the expansion West and it was the issue of the South wanting to assert itself over the federal government (STate's rights) and it was an economical issue of the day. The New York Times founder was an Abolitionist and father to the Republican party but was removed from the NYT when he took a hard stance against Southern states during the time of Reconstruction. At the time President Lincoln is said to have stated that the Southern states had never left the Union.

The Civil War was fought over the issue of slavery in its many forms and Lincoln came to the conclusion that it was unjust for the Declaration to state all men were created equal and spill the blood of many fine Americans without freeing them in the end. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the focus of the war. In fact the Civil War issue of slavery was not based on morals but rather of an economic nature and I have always maintained that.

Everything in this God-given world boils down to the issue of money as it states in the Bible, it is the root of Evil. (The word all does not appear in that statement. IF you disagree go look it up).

Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd, 1862. It stipulated that if the Southern states did not cease their rebellion by January 1st, 1863, then Proclamation would go into effect.

When the Confederacy did not yield, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863. President Lincoln justified the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure intended to cripple the Confederacy. Being careful to respect the limits of his authority, Lincoln applied the Emancipation Proclamation only to the Southern states in rebellion.

August 30 1861 - - General John C. Frémont issued a military proclamation declaring slaves of disloyal owners free in the state of Missouri (Fremont's Proclamation)

September 11, 1861 - Due to fear of alienating “Southern friends,” Lincoln ordered General Frémont to modify his emancipation decree in order to conform to US law, which held that only slaves who were themselves acting in armed rebellion could be confiscated and emancipated. Frémont refused Lincoln’s orders and was dismissed from his post.

DECEMBER 1, 1861 - President Lincoln drafted an act to be introduced before the legislature of Delaware for compensated emancipation of slaves. Lincoln felt that compensated emancipation would be acceptable to most voters and would result in gradual emancipation throughout the country. However, his proposal was narrowly defeated in Delaware.

JUNE 19, 1862 -President Lincoln signed a law barring slavery in all current and future federal territories. By this act, Congress and President Lincoln rejected the notion of popular sovereignty and repudiated the 1857 Dred Scott decision.

Like I said I could quote Lincoln all day disputing the fact that freeing the slaves was an after thought and not the main focus of the Civil War. It became the focus after September 1862. The focus was to preserve the Union.