Why would the South “go to war” to preserve slavery when Lincoln specifically said many times he had no desire to end slavery. He said it before he was elected and after he was elected.
Lincoln’s first inaugural address clearly states he had no intention of depriving the South of its property (slaves) and that he had no intention of ending slavery, that his only concern was preserving the Union, and following the law (such as the Fugitive Slave Act). See the very first page of his address. This wasn’t just a matter of private letters interpreted out of context. Lincoln was a white supremacist, who wanted to send all blacks back to Africa. He believed blacks were inferior. Lincoln himself as a lawyer had defended a slave owner who wanted his runaway slave returned. Lincoln never intended to end slavery. Only after the bloodiest war in history, as Lincoln feared Britain coming into the war on the side of the South, for British commercial reasons, did Lincoln attempt to appeal to British anti-slavery sentiments, with a fake “Emancipation Proclamation” that freed no one. Historians misread everything Lincoln did. Lincoln chose a slave owner, Johnson for his running mate, and even no longer ran as a Republican for president in 1864. Lincoln married the daughter of a major slave owning family. Lincoln chose slave owner US Grant as his commanding general, while the Confederacy chose Robert E. Lee, who had no slaves and freed his wife’s inherited slaves a decade before the Civil War. It should be no surprise to anyone that Lincoln the White Supremacist never had any intention of ending slavery. Lincoln was shyster lawyer politician, in it for the money and invaded the South because they wouldn’t accept excessive tariffs. Lincoln had a cash register where most people have a heart. Lincoln’s charming words misled most everyone.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp
“Why would the South “go to war” to preserve slavery when Lincoln specifically said many times he had no desire to end slavery. He said it before he was elected and after he was elected” Read the Secession Documents of South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia and Texas. That should answer your question.
(Lee) “freed his wife’s inherited slaves a decade before the Civil War.” Wrong. G.W.P. Custis, Mary Lee’s father, died in 1858. He named R.E. Lee as the estates executor.
As such, Lee was authorized to free the Custis slaves at his discretion, but no later than 5 years after Custis’s death. Lee freed the last of the Custis slaves in December 1862. Hardly 10 years before the Civil War.
Just dumb I guess.