Firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 didn't help that goal...
Of course, by definition, it wasn't a 'civil war'; historians politicize such labels. Lincoln was determined to 'preserve the Union' at any cost. A side effect of that decision has been dangerous weakening of state's rights, being more strongly felt today as D.C. becomes more and more a dictatorship❗
Dark days ahead. 🔥🙁
The choice Lincoln put them to was to fire to drive an invader away, or not fire and be occupied without defending themselves. If somebody is invading your home and you fire a warning shot to drive him away, you are not the aggressor. He is. He's the one who was invading your home after all.
You are correct. A civil war....a true civil war is when one or more sides fight for control over the central government. That was no more the case in 1861 than it had been in 1776. The Southern states never sought to rule over the Northern states in the same way that Washington never intended to march into London, depose George III and proclaim himself king. The much more accurate term for that conflict is the War for Southern Independence. That's what it actually was.....a war of independence.