[lentulusgracchus]

The slavery issue was a club, not a cause.

Lincoln's statements about slavery in the first year of the war prove it.

[Non-Sequitur]

The slavery issue was a club, not a cause.

It was not A cause. It was THE cause.

Lincoln's statements about slavery in the first year of the war prove it.

And the statements of Stephens and others prove that it was the cause for the rebellion, from the confederate point of view.