I am 100% in total disagreement over your assertion! The war was never about slavery, and there is plenty of evidence to support that assertion as being true. For the church of Lincoln goers such as yourself seeing another perspective is almost impossible for you to do when looking through such a narrow lens as opposed seeing through the eyes of a southerners point of view.
Also upon further reflection on why we started this discussion, was the mere concept of slavery itself, and the prevailing history in which man himself has been fighting against since the dawn of western civilization, (or perhaps since its inception). While abolition was a just cause, as well as something that had to be instituted, as recognized in the 13th amendment as well as the 14th amendment was among it, its greatest achievements in advancing liberty, justice for all and equal rights, (something that would take another 100 years to advance even further), was a mere afterthought when the dust settled. The excessive disproportionate taxes that the south was paying while the north was lavishly prospering as a result does give credence to how conflicts start and yes the war started over tariffs, not over the issue of slavery. The Federal government’s only source for revenue at the time was through the use of Tariffs due to the fact there was no income tax at the time. In fact Lincoln won his presidency with support of promises of corporate welfare to his benefactors such as the railroads, as he was a Lawyer for the Railroads prior to becoming president and thus was beholden to them by raising tariffs in order to help pay and subsidize them to build across the continental US.
To understand the premise of why the civil war started, one has to also understand the southerner point of view (white as they may be, although they could have been another race, yet the results would have been the same) and to many who understand this, would simply see that submitting to Lincolns vision was another form of slavery such as Federalism vs, States rights. As is the case with most wars in human history, are fought over the freedom of commerce. (see the civil war of Sri Lanka and case in point was an unfair, unjust practice of discrimination based on racism against the Tamil’s, and a people who wanted better for their lives, to have the same opportunities as the majority of the Sinhalese were getting. Even though its issues were social in their causes, it still takes the freedom of commerce to overcome them).
Can we honestly say that the cause in which the Civil War was brought about was the issue of slavery itself? When you consider the cost in which both sides paid, I find it very hard to believe that a war that defined a nation as we are today would have been over a principled argument, when the simple solution would have been to legislate a law outlawing slavery altogether before the war even started. The often debated point was the freedom of commerce.
Also something that is often left out of the historical chronology leading up to the Civil War, was the European Influence at the time. The banking cartels of Germany and England, and the issue of debt, something Jackson knew about 25 years prior, who managed to pay off the National debt and drive away Centralized banks from controlling Americas monetary system. (Jackson was the only US president to pay off the National debt in the nations history) When Lincoln became president, the country was close to being broke, and was denied by the European central banks a loan in which Lincoln was seeking to fund his war cause. His brilliance was the issuance of “Greenbacks” a debt free currency that flourished until Centralized banking was allowed once again to set up shop shortly after Lincoln’s assassination, thus ultimately creating another depression by limiting the flow of currency, creating scarcity in 6 years following the civil war in America.
I hear so many say how America is the greatest nation that was ever created, and the idea of liberty born from an idea, was unto itself one that had those opportunities to pursue. While we can agree that the latter is true, it in its present terms has eroded into a perversion of those ideas to which we have become a divided nation once again. This time not over race, (while we are seeing and hearing racism as an issue perpetuated by main stream media is but a mere rouse to start those divisive contempt’s once again as a means to create distractions) but over socialism, social issues, taxation, and personal liberties that are being encroached upon once again. The idea in which the civil War was fought over, is very much still being fought today, which to the astute observer is an irony that can not be ignored. The fight for hearts and minds still rages on among the ideologues of the previous administration (Obama) who seek to subvert those opposed by its deep state implants and various weaponizations of the DOJ, the FBI, SCOTUS, and the ones who altogether cling to what America was originally intended to be, thus it is no surprise the talk of secession can be heard in contemplative loathing in certain states who are resistant to America becoming like Europe. Ask who are truly free in this world and the answer is not that hard to figure out.
Conclusion,
The Civil War did not start over slavery. Slavery became an issue in large part due to Fredrick Douglas’s persistence to write about it for three years becoming an activist within the parlor of the high society types he would associate with prior to Lincoln’s Proclamation Emancipation Act, and many years following. The fact is Lincoln was a master propagandist, as he owned several news papers and actively silenced his critics by jailing them or exiling them to Canada during the war. Where do you think William Randolph Hurst learned the art of “Yellow Journalism” from? I got news for you, it was Lincoln. Hurst was Born during the civil in 1863 and was the next generation following Lincoln who by all accounts was heavily influenced by him posthumously.
While it is well known he was a Northern Sympathizer, his views in terms of what the war was about was clear, which most Europeans at the time thought the issue was over tariffs. However Marx’s views on slavery and the Oligarchy of the old South is something he often commented about as the war matured after Lincoln’s famous Proclamation Act to which the issue of Slavery took front page as the singular cause for winning the war.