Slavery was the main reason that the Southern leadership wanted to secede from the Union, and they were willing to go to war over their right to secede.
That seccession was the main reason that the Northern leadership was motivated, and they were willing to go to war to prevent the South's seccession.
No one denies that slavery was an issue but it was not the issue that the VAST majority of the southern men who picked up arms fought for, not even close. There can be no war unless someone shows up to fight it. Anyone who believes that all those folks who did not own slaves were fighting because they were saving up for a new 1850 Nigra has no sense of true history.
