Would that war have been fought if slavery hadn't existed in the South...?
Yes, but ignorant people don't care.
Originally Posted by Birdwatcher
The only real reason for the South to secede was to ensure that slavery continued, because both the economy and massive personal fortunes were tied up in the value of their slaves.
So you can say the war was about state's rights, and the right to secede, but those rights (in this instance) were primarily only to protect the fortunes of rich slave owners and the institution of slavery.
Confederate Alexander H Stephens said what the Civil War was about in his Cornerstone Speech of 1861. The southern economy was based on slavery and prior to the war, the southern power structure tried to expand the slave economy into all of the new territories of the United States including Oregon. Amazing how revisionist Confederate historians ignore all that.
