[Non-Sequitur]

The South wanted a war, and these letters prove that Lincoln would have done anything even legalize slavery to prevent war.

Slavery was already legal. What this amendment would not have done, and which the South was not willing to accept, was ensure that slavery could expand to the territories. Without that protection the South wasn't interested.

[usmcobra]

It was tolerated, like bawdy houses and such things but it wasn't legal in that it was defined by law.

I've challenged any number of these confederbees to prove that slavery was legally defined by the US government, feel free to prove me wrong by showing a law that defines what a slave is how one becomes a slave, and what crimes a person would have to commit to be enslaved?