[gandalftb]

The fight over money clearly drove the ruling classes of the South.

But that won’t get the voluntary military muster that happened.

The Abolitionists and preachers drove the northern, you might say, hysteria over slavery.

Dickens, from his home in England, had no real idea what drove the feelings of Americans on the ground.

Once Fort Sumter was fired on, that and the background feelings over slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act caused the muster in the north.

In Iowa, my ancestors joined others to create 3 regiments, without a call from Lincoln or the Federal Army.

They mustered so quickly, without consultation from the Feds, that they chose gray uniforms that had to be replaced later when the Feds showed them that the correct color was blue.

[DiogenesLamp]

The fight over money clearly drove the ruling classes of the South.

It also clearly drove the ruling classes of the North. These later came to be called "Robber Barons" during what is known as the "Gilded age."

Trouble is, the ruling classes of the North are still ruling over the rest of us.

The Abolitionists and preachers drove the northern, you might say, hysteria over slavery.

The vast majority of the Northern people were not motivated by the Abolitionists. Their opposition to slavery stemmed from what they saw as a threat to labor and wages from free labor. They hated slavery because it undermined their own ability to earn wages. They didn't hate it because it oppressed black people. They just didn't care about that.

States like Illinois had made laws to keep blacks out of their state. The average Northerner wanted nothing to do with blacks, and didn't really care what happened to them. The Abolitionists were a tiny minority who's influence was exaggerated after the fact to make it appear as if moral considerations about slavery drove the war.

This was just propaganda.

In Iowa, my ancestors joined others to create 3 regiments, without a call from Lincoln or the Federal Army.

Why didn't they invade Missouri? That slave state was on their own border. Seems as if their focus wasn't actually slavery, or else they would have stamped it out where it was close to them.

[DiogenesLamp]

Dickens, from his home in England, had no real idea what drove the feelings of Americans on the ground.

He spent six months touring the United States in the 1840s. He details the discussions he had with Americans, both North and South in a book he published. He was quite critical of slavery, and urged the Southern families with whom he spoke to get rid of it.