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Uh, my "educational system" aside -- the South fired the first shots at the North. The South seceded before Lincoln took office. The South had no moral imperative for their fight -- i.e. they were not defending the purely American idea of "all men are created equal" (despite Dredd Scott) -- they simply were fighting to maintain their peculiarly aristocratic and immoral economy.

The proof is that there were no eloquent "Declaration of Independence" written by any Confederate "founding father". There was no defense for the indefensible except a scrappy dirty dogfight that cost more American lives than any other war.

And are you saying that the government was in the slave trade business or are you trying to say that private Northern concerns were in the international slave trade business? In any case, what was the point in saying that "Lincoln's new job would pay a salary financed by money raised from the sale of slave produced goods?"

"Uh, my 'educational system' aside..."

Well, you say that, then drag out your lack of education again with those weak criticisms of the South that do nothing to strengthen your points.

Clinging to irrelevant concepts does not enable you to widen your understanding of the era. The first to be fired on justification was and is propaganda because causing a war is not an absolute function of one factor. The secession before inauguration and lack of declaration issues are assertions without meaning to the history of the time.

The most important problem is your class warfare arrogance argument based on your ignorance of the real culture of the pre-antebellum South. There were wealthy farmers in the South, as well as wealthy manufactureres in the North. There were massive homes in Biloxi and Mobile as well as in New York, Boston, and Providence. That coupled with the belief the practice of slavery justified killing anyone – innocent or guilty – essentially made the invasion of the South an act of righteousness for a new morality. And that is expressed by your comment "all men are created equal", a comment not in the US Constitution, and not a legal justification for any action of the government.

"And are you saying that the government was in the slave trade business or are you trying to say that private Northern concerns were in the international slave trade business?"

Private Northern concerns were in the slave trading business while the US government, legally bound to stop the trade, largely overlooked it for 45 years.

"In any case, what was the point in saying that 'Lincoln's new job would pay a salary financed by money raised from the sale of slave produced goods?' ".

To point out to you that a moral imperative, so fundamental to your arguments, did not exist for Lincoln or belong to the government as you so readily believe and accept.

The US Constitution was written by moral men with concepts of morality as underpinnings of the document. They never envisioned, nor wrote law, to allow one section of the country to impose their concept of morality on the other.