But the South would not have been fighting at all had the North not invaded them. Why did the North invade? It wasn't because of slavery.
The SOUTH Seceded from the Union due to Slavery.
Which isn't exactly true, but even if it were, is their own business, and none of your own. You do not get to play GOD on what constitutes a justifiable reason to exercise a right to independence.
The NORTH fought the war to maintain the Union.
Which they had no right to do. The Union did not need to be maintained anymore than the British one needed to be maintained.
Why is it so hard for you to accept that two different sides in a fight might have separate reasons for fighting?
The reason for the defenders fighting was because they were invaded. That is the ultimately justified reason for fighting someone. They don't have to justify their actions in defending their country, it is the INVADERS who have to put forth a legitimate reason why they marched into someone else's land and started killing people.
We don't have to ask the Poles why they killed Nazis, the answer is obvious. The Nazis invaded. We have to ask the Nazis, why they thought they had a right to invade?
The only reasons which need to be examined are those of the invading force, not those of the defending force.
If I keep on mentioning slavery,
We know why you keep mentioning slavery, it's because you practice the "Look Squirrel!!!!" method of debate.
The salient facts are not on your side, so you badly need it as a distraction from the larger truths.
You stated that the South fought because the North invaded them. Which invasion caused Confederate forces under PGT Beauregard to attack Fort Sumter in April 12 1861? As a result of this unprovoked attack, Lincoln then called for volunteers from the states, which he got. This led to the first “invasion” of the South at Bull Run on July 21, 1861. So, how did the “invasion” of July 1861 cause the unprovoked attack of April 1861?
So, unless we are dealing with time travel, I fail to see how your timeline works.
This whole “we’re fighting because you invaded thing” only works if you ignore how we got to the point. We got to the point of an “invasion” of the South from the North by the South seceding. They seceded due to (say it with me) Slavery, or at least that’s why the good folks of Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Texas, and Georgia thought they were seceding. I continue to find it amusing that you, with your 150 year remove, feel free to tell those folks that they were wrong in their reasons.
The invocation of God is very interesting as well. The South thought they had God on their side. Guess what? So did the North. This happened many times in history, with both sides claiming God’s will. In medieval times, it was accepted that whoever won had God’s Grace. Guess what? The North won.
You know, I’ve tried very hard to avoid referencing the Nazis, but I guess Godwin’s Law always comes about. One of the reasons I’ve tried to avoid invoking the Nazis is that I fell that this is the last refuge whenever logic doesn’t work and you’re losing the argument on its merits. Guess I was right.
You state that I keep on bringing up slavery because the salient facts are not on my side. I disagree. Slavery is the salient fact. It is the sole reason that the South seceded, based on the writings of the people who actually seceded. You have provided no support to your contention that the Declaration of Independance overrules the Constitution. Your whole “the reasons are not important” schtick is just a ploy to avoid talking about the reasons, because you know the reasons are very clearly about slavery. Your whole “we fought because you invaded” routine only works if you ignore the whole Fort Sumter thing. You can’t attack first and then say, this doesn’t count because we had our fingers crossed.