Tsk, tsk......You guys are sounding like those groups that don't believe the holocaust really happened.
I don't think you can accuse either Val or myself of being "Yankees".......good grief, on most issues concerning the gubmint we are as conservative as you. Even if we were "Yankees", the issue is, what truly happened then, not what either side wants to believe now.
I've read a lot of good histories, and a few of the theories a lot of Southern conservatives seem to believe, along with their "proofs". Quite honestly, the theories don't hold water when you read the totality of the historical record. You can believe it was only about States Rights if you want, but it's simply not true. It was not a made up issue so Northerners could grab your land. Like I said, that's not much different than Holocaust non-believers.
There were some, not lots, of Southerners who didn't believe in Slavery. There were some who fought for the Union who actually believed in slavery, but not very many.
It was about that issue....plain and simple. Lee himself admitted that was the issue in spite of his own belief that it was about States Rights. He himself said that God would decide that war, that He did, and that Lee himself had been wrong.
Instead of 'Histories' which as we all know are predominantly written by flaming liberals, try reading autobiographies and speeches that are contemporary to the war.
So9