But the Republicans only needed to pick off one or two Senators to pass the Morril tariff. All it would take would be some good old fashioned log rolling. A payoff here or there to a key constituency in this or that Senator’s state and they’d have had the votes they needed. The Tariff was going to pass. Everybody knew it.
The key point with slavery was that even after Lincoln started the war for money and empire, the Northern dominated Congress still went out of their way to say they were not fighting over slavery. Slavery simply was not threatened in the US.
Once the North made it clear that slavery was not threatened, the argument that anybody was leaving or fighting to protect something that was not threatened falls apart.
And the Democrats only needed to pick off one or two Republicans to keep it. They voted it down in 1860. They could have voted it down in 1861 had they not rebelled and left.
The key point with slavery was that even after Lincoln started the war for money and empire, the Northern dominated Congress still went out of their way to say they were not fighting over slavery. Slavery simply was not threatened in the US.
Expansion of slavery was. Which is why the South launched their rebellion to protect their slaves.
Once the North made it clear that slavery was not threatened, the argument that anybody was leaving or fighting to protect something that was not threatened falls apart.
Only if you continue to ignore the facts.