More importantly, though: the Civil war didn't happen in a vacuum. There were as series of serious "sectional" controversies that had sprung up from the very beginning. And they were about ... you guessed it ... slavery.
Whether or not the Civil War was about slavery, I think it's beyond dispute that it occurred because of slavery. It's difficult to see how any other issue could have led to fighting.
the WBTS was about LIBERTY for dixie.
there were about 100 minor causes, but NONE approached the lust of southerners to be FREE from political/social/business/academic/financial domination by the northern ELITISTS out of DAMNyankeeland, primarily NY & new england.
face it, you've been lied to and made a fool of by the LEFTIST/fascists, out of the "poison ivy league" & "left coast" schools, who wouldn't spit on you if you caught fire. (in point of fact, such elitists ridicule & laugh AT anyone who is foolish enough to believe their KNOWING lies.)
only about 5-6% of northerners/southerners had slaves. those slave-OWNERS were extremely concerned about preservation of the "peculiar institution".
FEW other people cared a damn about either slavery or about "the plight of the slaves". they SHOULD have;they did NOT.
further, FEW people, north or south, cared enough about "some rich guy's right to have slaves" to fight a SKIRMISH over it, much less a major WAR.
this is especially true of the CSA soldiers/sailors/marines, as the AVERAGE of GROSS ASSETS of those servicemen/women was LESS than $ 25.oo US (people that poor couldn't have bought a slave, had they wanted one!). the CSA service-members fought for their city/county/parish/state, each other & for FREEDOM from a faraway central government, which they believed (CORRECTLY) was NOT acting in their informed self-interest & which was likely to become evermore intrusive into their lives.
further, the common soldier/sailor/marine of the CSA was fighting against the WEALTHY/privileged elitists everywhere. (had they won their war for FREEDOM, the "plantation aristocracy" might well been next on the "list of enemies", especially since so many of the dixie aristocrats had COLLOBORATED with the enemy during the war.)
the brave/honorable "Billy Yanks" too, were fighting for a PRINCIPLE: Preserving the Union. generally, they cared NOTHING about the "peculiar institution" OR about the slaves.
free dixie,sw