[boris]

The civil war was not about slavery. Lincoln justified it ex post facto on those grounds.

It was primarily about the right of secession.

--Boris

[jlogajan]

The civil war was not about slavery. Lincoln justified it ex post facto on those grounds.

It was primarily about the right of secession.

Except they wanted to secede because of slavery. It seems that Bill Clinton didn't invent such parsing -- southern slave holders and their modern day supporters seem to be well versed in the technique as well.

"Oh, oh, we're just fighting for the right to secede."

"Why do you want to secede?"

"Oh, just because -- nothing to do with slavery, nope, no sir."