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Southern government was destructive of the natural rights of almost its entire work force, and seceded so that it could continue to oppress its work force unmolested.

Though policies to address it were under consideration, slavery was not under threat of abolition prior to the war. In fact, Lincoln himself pushed through an amendment to the Constitution that would permanently protect it, reading "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State."

The only reason slavery was ever abolished during the war was the fact that it became politically advantageous for Lincoln to do so.

Not quite. The Republican party was born out of the Abolition movement, which was essentially a church-based movement. At some point the abolitionists simply rejected the existing parties, mostly the Whig party, and formed their own. It was very definitely a minority party, and should have had no chance of winning the presidency.

It only won because the Southern Democrats basically boycotted the election, so it was a fluke that Lincoln was elected, but the election of a known abolitionist sealed it.

By Inauguration Day, the South was on its way out. Lincoln basically did what he could to save the situation, even back-pedaling on Abolition, to the consternation of his supporters.

But there was never any doubt that "Republican" meant "Abolition". The southerners understood it perfectly. And while he backpedaled first trying to avoid secession and secondly to keep Maryland in the union, as soon as he politically could do it, he did. It only applied to the south, but again, there was never any doubt that the Republicans were going to abolish slavery, and by the end of the war, abolition was the policy nation-wide.

I find it hard to understand how anyone can make a "natural rights" argument in favor of slavery. My people came out of the south, and I know there are cultural values that are worth preserving. But I do not regret that, once they made the decision to secede, that they were defeated. Had they successfully seceded, a later, much larger war would almost certainly have resulted as the two countries fought for control of the west. Slave rebellions would have been viciously fought and ruthlessly put down. It would not have been pretty in any case.

But it happened as it happened. A small band of churchmen organized, preached, smuggled slaves, and eventually formed a political party that through a fluke grabbed the presidency, and brought down the institution they most hated. They went on to institute laws enfranchising a whole race of men previously oppressed. They have made "color-blind" citizenship a central tenet of their political creed for a century and a half. And the Democrats have opposed the very idea of it for the same century and a half.