The War Between the States wasn’t started to free any slave.
Slavery was not even part of the equation till the war was two years old and Lincoln wanted to some “moral” reason to continue it. He was also scared to death that England would throw their support to the South. At any time before Lincoln sent his armies southward slaves owners could have been paid off and slavery peacefully ended. The war was started because Lincoln could not afford to let the Southern states go because the South generated most of the revenue for the Federal government. It was all about money and control and nothing else. All Founding Fathers believed in the Right of Secession. No state enters a union they can’t get out of it.
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