re: Do you think the Civil War was started over slavery?

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Well slavery made it more profitable, but without slavery it still would have been profitable. Farming has always been a very profitable business in the South due to rich soil and easy access to irrigation.

But to answer your OP, yes slavery was a major factor of the war. Many southern states started to feel pressure from the North on the issue and knew if they didn't secede that it would eventually be abolished within a decade or two. The war probably sped up the abolishment of slavery.

Slavery wasn't the only issue. The South's economy was being controlled by the North and Northern industries were getting massive tax breaks while heavy tariffs were being put on southern agriculture exports. It was a conglomeration of issues that led to the hatred between the 2 but the ever growing pressure on slavery was probably the tipping point.

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This is very well said, and about as brief as you can get. I applaud you.

If anyone wants to read the link that Tbird posted to Georgia's reasons for succession, and few of you will because it is a very long wall of oldish English text, you will see what we mean when we talk about state's rights.

In a nutshell, northern manufacturing, mining, and fishing/shipping were all getting special treatment from the federal government through trade restrictions and such, for decades. Meanwhile the South was getting fricked on agriculture.

In 1841 or 42, a new Act of Congress ended a bunch of the crooked shite that had been going on for the northern economy, but didn't do a whole lot to end the buttfricking that the southern economy was taking.

This is when all of the northern interests came up with a new political party through which they could regain control of the federal government to put their special shite back in place. They knew the only thing they could do to unite enough northerners was to create an abolitionist party. The crooks called it the Republican Party.

This party failed in it's first round of elections in 1856 but finally got Lincoln in in 1860.

All under the guise of some great humanitarian plan to free the slaves.

The south said frick yall, not only are you NOT going to go back to your crooked business practices at our expense, you DAMN sure aren't going to outlaw slavery down here as a ruse to justify your crooked existence.

Read the Lincoln Diaries. He hated black people. Do some knowledge on how/why Liberia was formed and why they use a "dollar" as their currency.

Sorry for any spelling grammar mistakes, no time to preview.