The Last Battle of the civil War

southland22 said

Personally i do not believe that in the south the overall thought was we are fighting to keep slavery. I think is was about here goes the federal gov. taking away more of the rights of the states. Several of the New England States stated they would withdraw from the Union simply on that matter if in fact that was what Lincoln was trying to do.

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And what right was the federal government going to take away from the states? (at least those who left the union).

Well, read the Mississippi secession proclamation to find out.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/csa/missec.htm

From the document:

<!--StartFragment -->"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth."

To diminish the role of slavery in the coming of the Civil War is to simply ignore the historical record.

Got another exercise which is interesting. Run through the prominent political compromises/events during the sectional crisis and just about every point of contention or the cause of such event boils down to a controversy over slavery.

The southern states seceded over the issue of slavery.