[beancounter13]

...it doesn’t seem that much to have avoided over 400,000 deaths. And a peaceful end to slavery might have left [our] country much less divided today on the issues of race.

I certainly agree; we foolishly and needlessly sacrificed many American lives in that struggle. Again, we need only look at England or France, each with their own history of slavery, and race relations in both countries are far better than our own.

I will admit that I had not thought much about the economic justification for the South rejoining the North, but that alone would have been a compelling reason once immediate political discourse was eliminated.

[Non-Sequitur]

I certainly agree; we foolishly and needlessly sacrificed many American lives in that struggle. Again, we need only look at England or France, each with their own history of slavery, and race relations in both countries are far better than our own.

Neither England or France had a large section of their country willing to launch a rebellion to protect against what they saw as threats to their institution of slavery. The U.S. did.