post 34 - You are correct. Even Thomas Jefferson predicted a war between the states would occur over the issue of slavery. Though accurate that the North’s unfair trade policies towards the South played a part in the acrimony between the two, the prevalent cause of the Civil War was exactly as you’ve stated.
I think in the first volume of Bill Bennett’s tome on American history, he makes the point that the slavery question being compromised as a way to create a nation actually ensured that there would be a Civil War/War Between the States/ War of Northern Aggression (did I leave any out???)
I live in the heart of Dixie and I, for one, am glad that the North won. If they had not, surely there would have been at least 50 more years of slavery. Which means (taking in account that most Civil Rights legislations were enacted during the 50’s and 60’s) means that America might have had to possibly deal with servitude and Jim Crow laws in the present day.