In order to prevent the war then one side or the other would have had to really want to avoid it. And I don't think that's the case in either the North or the South. The war came because in their own way both sides wanted it to come.
“The war came because in their own way both sides wanted it to come. “
There was anger on both sides. It is how wars happen, right? One or both sides become belligerent and takes steps towards something they should have had better sense to stay away from. Lawsuits are the same type of thing. People simply act stupidly.
I think the South should have adopted a strategy to remove slavery once the Constitution was signed and forced the North to sign onto it, too, since they also had slavery. In fact, I think a phase out plan should have been adopted as part of the Constitution. The writers thought that would happen naturally but it didn’t.
Still, that wouldn’t have stopped the various anti-black laws that were in effect in every State. Those stayed in place for 100 years after the 13th was ratified.
I think Lincoln missed a grand opportunity to get the South back into the Union without a shot fired. I am second guessing the political climate but I see the northern congressmen that had no desire to appease the south so Lincoln would have had a tough time getting concessions from both. The South was ticked, no doubt, and did not trust the North, but I still believe Lincoln didn’t take any length of time that he should have to resolve the situation. He could have pulled troops from Sumter, made some concessions, then asked for a roundtable discussions to change all laws, like taxes, the north and south disliked.
I just see the war as a terrible waste that could have been avoided.