“...[T]he fact of the matter is that slavery and white supremacy was indeed the primary basis of the Confederacy. This is an irrefutable fact....”
The “irrefutable fact” is that there was NO THREAT to slavery. At the start of the war, it was protected by SCOTUS, exactly as abortion is today. And just as is the case today with abortion, under ‘normal’ circumstances, that could only be changed by either SCOTUS reversing itself or amending the constitution.
The irony is that nothing short of a constitutional crisis would have given Lincoln the premise he needed for ending slavery, which is exactly what the secessions did.
Since there was NO THREAT to slavery, then neither could their secessions have been motivated by their determination to preserve it.
For Lincoln, the slavery issue was only ever a propaganda tool. His primary interest was in preventing the loss of such an important segment of the national economy.
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” -A. Lincoln, 1862
The country tore itself apart in 1860 for the same reason it’s doing so today. It’s the same argument that started between Hamilton and Jefferson, Federalism versus Republicanism, and which probably lost its last best chance for a lasting resolution at Appomattox Courthouse.
Fixed it.
The country tore itself apart in 1860 for the same reason it’s doing so today.
I agree. Democrats, angry that they lost an election, had a hissy fit and threatened to tear the country apart. Only in the case of southern democrats of 1860 they almost succeeded.