[stainlessbanner]

Rather it was the south which made defense of slavery the cornerstone for their reasons for secession.

How do you explain that Lincoln appealed the South by letting them keep slavery if they quit fighting? If the South was truly fighting for slavery, why would it not take Lincoln's offer?

[Non-Sequitur]

By the time Lincoln had been inagurated the original 7 southern stated had seceded and Davis had been installed as president of the confederacy. Defense of the institution of slavery was far and away the most common reason given for their actions, often the only reason given for their actions. Did you expect them to call it all off?

[WhiskeyPapa]

Rather it was the south which made defense of slavery the cornerstone for their reasons for secession.

How do you explain that Lincoln appealed the South by letting them keep slavery if they quit fighting?

Ho hum. Because Lincoln's bedrock, don't-give-an-inch position was that slavery be limited to the areas where it already existed. He knew that it would die if it were contained.

The slave holders knew it too.

Walt

[Ditto]

If the South was truly fighting for slavery, why would it not take Lincoln's offer?

Two reasons. First, the radicals were not content with keeping it in their states. They wanted to expand slavery to the west. There were major profits to be made.

The second reason was that the more politically astute realized that it was only a matter of time before the entrance of more free states from the midwest and far west would have broken the legislative block that the solid south had in congress.

Slavery in the south was not the issue. The northern albolitionists were not close to gaining enough political power to end slavery there. It was the expansion of slavery for both economic and political reasons.