And the Union was very (crystal) clear that it would accept slavery, but not Independence.
Direct some hatred at the Union. It didn't fight to end slavery, it fought to end freedom.
It didn't start talking about ending slavery until two years after the war had been going on. Even then, "Ending Slavery" was first a military tactic, then a political tactic, and finally a punishment for having put up such a fight.
Five Union states were still practicing slavery throughout the civil war, and were in fact exempt from the emancipation proclamation. If the Union wanted to fight to end slavery, they could have started with their own five slave states. The supply lines would have been a lot shorter.
Stop buying into the propaganda the victors spread to justify their carnage. It isn't true.
When people say the War wasn’t about slavery, they’re half right. The United States didn’t fight to end slavery. they were very clear that the they fought to maintain the Union. The South, on the other hand, fought solely to expand Slavery into the Territories, and maintain Slavery in the states that still had it.
Your comment stating that the Union fought the war to end freedom calls to mind what I call the Chinese Fortune Cookie rule. Just as no Fortune Cookie statement is complete without adding the words “in bed”, no statement (from apologists) on the causes of the Civil War is complete without adding the words “regarding slavery”. It works perfectly on your statement: The Union fought to end freedom REGARDING SLAVERY.
The root cause of the Secession of the Southern States was and has always been, the fact that they wanted to maintain the right to own and other people, and to extend that right to the Territories. You can call it FREEDOM, or State’s Rights, it’s still about the right to own other people against their will.