This is exactly correct. The fight was over control of the government in Washington DC where the Northeastern robber barons had learned to make fortunes through government policies which were designed to benefit them.
Lose control of congress, and all that easy money dries up. That's why the "Free Soil Party" was headquartered in New York City instead of Kansas. It served the interest of protecting representation in Congress, not land in Kansas.
Slavery was impractical in all of the territories and the issue was more symbolic than realistic. But control of congress was not symbolic, it was control of power, and the corruptocracy of Washington DC had learned to get rich from controlling the government and setting it's policies and taxation.
The fight then is the same fight now. The *EVIL* side is the one controlling power in Washington and forcing the rest of us to pay taxes to support causes and people whom we are against.
And the "elite" rich of the Northeast keep getting rich from government spending and policy. (Like mandatory vaccines paid for by taxpayer dollars.)
The fight then is the same fight now. The *EVIL* side is the one controlling power in Washington
That’s true everywhere. Thieves control government and live by stealing. If the government is small, those pieces of don’t disturb the people too much, and people go with their lives.