[southernsunshine]

The course of history. Slavery would most likely be gone from all states by the end of the nineteeth century. Slavery was something the south had to get over. A number of prominent southern soldiers, including Robert E. Lee and Patrick Cleburne, said as much during the war.

Then why did Lincoln's stated reason for waging war change? His pretext for beginning the war was to "save the Union" and voila, at Gettysburg he decided it was a war to end slavery.

[rockrr]

Lincoln’s reasons were clear and unwavering - he sought to hold the union together. The notion that he “waged war to free the slaves” is one attributed to him, not by him.

[driftless2]

So I guess the north was just using ending slavery as a pretext and reinstituted slavery at war’s end because they didn’t care one way or the other? Get real. The war ended slavery in the U.S. Period. Slavery before the war, no slavery after.