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"After studying the War for Southern Independence, you will understand that slavery was a minor issue. If the Confederates had freed all slaves prior to announcing their succession, the Federal politicians would still have been for war."

I understand it all too well. However, as another poster mentioned (while ignoring most of my post), to the victors go the spoils. Thus, Sherman's genocide, Sheridan's war crimes, and other not so nice things are swept beneath the rug of history. Schools in most places end up teaching that a group of states tried to leave the union because they were just a bunch of slave-owning wackos, but the heroic union army, led by benevolent men such as Grant (who actually was pretty decent for the most part) and Sherman, pulled the nation back together. Thankfully, there are still plenty of folks who know and teach the other side of the coin. The University of South Carolina has a large collection of diaries and letters from the time. There's some absolutely horrible things contained within those.

Out of curiosity, where did you go to school, and how did they teach the topic? When I was in school in Virginia, it was always taught as the War of Northern Agression, and I got what I'd call a balanced account. Later, when I was in Maryland schools, I was taught about the 'Civil War'. Looking back, I find it a little odd that Maryland, a southern state, would be so different from Virginia.