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But is that really the response you get?
A great deal of the time...yes. I travel quite a bit with work. Utah, Kansas, New York, Ohio, and Michigan, more recently. I'll admit I am one to discuss just about anything, but invariably I end up in the position of someone wanting me to defend living in the South. People are generally very cordial and I usually enjoy the discussion. Neither side really had a defensible position based on the ethics of our time. The Northern states imported slaves and the southern states purchased them. Both sides owned them for personal use. Both areas had those who really understood that it was wrong, but much like today, as long as "the price was right" for consumer goods most people just ignored it. In today’s United States most people are opposed to things like forced labor, child labor, etc.; that is until faced with paying $100.00 for a pair of tennis shoes made in an industrialized nation with similar standards as us or paying $35.00 for a pair that was made by 9 year olds in Indonesia. When it hits the pocketbook, most people just close their eyes to it. I would assume (people still being people) that in the 1850's most people applied the same "logic" to their purchases.
A great deal of other issues also preceded the Civil War. Mostly dealing with the ever-growing Federal Government assuming more and more unconstitutional authority. Finally it erupted with Lincoln’s election, into the succession of several states. The growing anti-slavery movement saw it's opportunity - the time had come to press the point (a just point I might add). It also served to economically break the back of the newly formed Confederacy. Dual benefits.
Before everyone erupts, I am NOT trying to say that the war had nothing to do with slavery; but on the other hand, saying it was ALL about slavery is equally incorrect.
Now for my position: I think that it was a giant mistake not to abolish slavery with the Constitution. From what I have read, many of the founder despised slavery - but still owned slaves. I have read that the reason for not abolishing it was that one state (South Carolina I think) would not sign the Constitution or participate in the Revolution if slavery was to be abolished. Not wanting to fight the Revolution on two fronts, they failed to abolish it and put the issue off. They did build in some provisions that would eventually have slavery dieing a natural death; the three-fifths rule among them.
I believe in the literal interpretation of Gods Word. In the literal reading we are all related at least from Noah, and back to Adam from that. (Another discussion) Based on this fact no person has more or less inherent worth than anyone else - based on anything.
There are substantial cultural differences between many different segments of our society - race being one of them. I believe that trying to make our nation one culture perpetuates the problem. There is absolutely no reason why different cultures can't live together without hating each other.(Again another discussion)

Some people simply point out that no region can claim perfect righteousness and that good and evil are more mixed in the world.
This was a point that I failed to make. I agree with this point.

Thanks for the response. Who you talk to makes a difference. There are Northerners who look down on the South, though a lot of it is affluent urbanites looking down on just about anyone who doesn't come from large cities. They don't think any better about those in the rural counties or working-class neighborhoods of their own state. But you will also find a lot of people on line who make Northerners responsible for all the country's problems. I don't think there's much to be said for either dismissive attitude about other parts of the country.

I don't know how to get beyond such ongoing reproaches thrown at one part of the country or another. One thing is to focus on what we can do now, rather than on past animosities. Another is to try to deal with questions of fact and moral judgments separately -- both are important, but each has its own place. I don't think most Americans are hung up on regional conflicts today, though. For better or worse, television and other media have made us one nation.

A country is a little like a team. We each bring different strengths and weaknesses to the enterprise, and hopefully the strengths of one member compensate for the weaknesses of another. Someone may be right today, but that doesn't mean that they were always right or will always be right in the future. The various parts of our country may come into conflict, but on the whole we benefit from our union. That may be hard to see today, because of divisive political issues, but over the long run, it's incontestable.