I think we all sometimes are guilty of going the "ad hominem" road, but I believe that it is important that we all step back and realize that there were no absolutes on either side of the conflict. Both sides are guilty of not trying hard enough to find a peaceful solution. Everyone of us needs to try harder to be more understanding of both sides of the issue. I know that as a reenactor,and a historian, I feel I must know both sides of the issue to be objective.
Sorry but I do not buy the moral equivalence argument. There is nothing that can justify attacking US property and responding to those attacks are not morally equivalent with attacking.
This was not a matter of not trying hard enough to avoid war since the Southern political class had been working mightly to bring about secession no matter the cost. While almost no one in the North wanted a war. Maybe a tiny number of fanatical abolitionists did.
Lincoln came in the middle of these schemes and conspiracies and, in NO way caused the war.