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Interestingly, still no talk of slavery.....only MONEY.

I was reading Scott Adams the other day. (Author of the cartoon "Dilbert)

He said something along the lines of "People do not reason their way into a position. They make up their mind what they want to believe and then they look for arguments that support the position they want to believe."

The truth was economic, but that sounds unethical, and so they had to find a substitute truth to make them feel good about invading and murdering people.

They knew they had to invade and murder people to rescue their economics, but this wouldn't play in the moral society that existed then, so they had to rationalize other "moral" explanations for why they were invading and murdering people.

Initially they advanced "to preserve the Union", but that really wasn't a very morally compelling cause, so they had to up the hyperbole and claim they were doing it for the slaves. (18 months after the war had started.)

The truth is, they hated blacks and would rather see them thrown out of the country than to live with them, but it sounded good, or at least better than any other moral cause of which they could think.

It certainly sounded better than "We are going to invade to get back that money we lost when the South went independent."

No, that argument wouldn't sell at all.

DiogenesLamp: "The truth was economic, but that sounds unethical, and so they had to find a substitute truth to make them feel good about invading and murdering people.
They knew they had to invade and murder people to rescue their economics, but this wouldn't play in the moral society that existed then, so they had to rationalize other 'moral' explanations for why they were invading and murdering people.
Initially they advanced 'to preserve the Union', but that really wasn't a very morally compelling cause, so they had to up the hyperbole and claim they were doing it for the slaves. (18 months after the war had started.)"

Sorry, but slavery certainly was the stated reason given by Deep South Fire Eaters for declaring secession and forming their own Confederacy.

Later, slavery certainly was not the reason Jefferson Davis ordered war to begin against the United States on April 12, 1861, nor was it the reason the Confederacy formally declared war on May 6, 1861.

Nor was slavery the reason President Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion on April 15, 1861.
Indeed, on nearly any date before April 9, 1865 the Confederacy could have asked for peace and either preserved slavery itself or received compensation for their freed slaves.
And so protecting slavery remained a major issue for Confederates.

For the Union abolishing slavery eventually became the test of victory and one reason they could accept nothing short of Unconditional Surrender.

Of course, you guys know all this perfectly well.
You simply refuse to say it truthfully.