[moehoward]

"The Civil War could have been easily avoided if Lincoln had done one thing; Buy all the slaves there were and then give them their freedom in the North. Expensive? Yes. But far less expensive than prosecuting a war for 4-5 years."

You make a hell of a point. Unless the war wasn't over slavery.....

[Bidimus1]

It (slavery) was a probably the flint that sparked the tender, but there were other issues of course. The rise of the middle class and the industrialist class in the north was making the agrarian south less and less economically relevant. The influx of new citizens by both natural increase and emigration greatly favored the free states thus the power of the slave states in the House of Reps was in decline (only the 3/5ths compromise kept the south even marginally relevant in the House) The senate was kept frozen slave / free by way of the Compromise of 1850.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Unless the war wasn't over slavery...

Also a good point. But it is presumed that slavery was the tipping point that started the move for secession. And if that is true then it is as likely that Lincoln purchasing all the slaves would have started a shooting war nonetheless.