[ek_hornbeck]

Well, let’s not get wrapped up in a blanket of Yankee self-righteousness. We should remember that slavery existed in the North as well as in the South, and that there was still a small number of slaves in New Jersey as late as 1860.

All true, but the issue is not moral righteousness, the issue is over who is to blame for the civil war. It is a myth that Lincoln wanted to end slavery in existing slave states. The worst that his government did was limit the spread of slavery via the Missouri compromise and his government's failure to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act (why do state's rights suddenly go out the window there)?

The proximate (though not necessarily ultimate or historical cause) for secession was not Lincoln imposing his will on slave states, but the slave state's desire to impose their will and laws on the rest of the nation, including free states.

[CatherineofAragon]

"All true, but the issue is not moral righteousness

You could have fooled me!