Stop trying to make the war about “owning people” because that had nothing to do with why Union soldiers marched across the border to kill people in the Southern states.
Trying to pull this bait and switch with slavery as some sort of explanation for why Union armies marched, is just dishonest.
You *KNOW* that Union armies didn’t march because of slavery. You *KNOW* that slavery would have continued in the North and the South if the war hadn’t occurred, so stop trying to argue from a moral point that was not relevant to why a war was began.
All true up until Jan 1863. From that date on everywhere Union troops marched slaves existed no more.
You can't post hoc justify an act you took. This is like shooting into a crowd and striking a murderer, and then claiming you were justified in shooting into a crowd because you killed a murderer.
You have to justify what you did on the basis of why you did it *WHEN* you did it. You cannot come along later and claim a new retroactive reason for why you invaded and killed other people.
Also, the president doesn't have the constitutional authority to declare an entire region in "rebellion" and then seize all their property. He is still required to adhere to "due process."