In NO WAY am I suggesting that I believe slavery is acceptable or ought to be tolerated, EVER.
However, the central issue over which the Civil War was fought was NOT primarily slavery, (if it truly was, then why did Lincoln's emancipation proclamation only
intend to free the slaves that were held by those rebelling States under the Confederacy? Economic crippling is a standard tactic in war against your enemy.
The emancipation proclamation was an act of war by the Union against the Confederacy...
Emancipation Proclamation (pbs.org).....
Understanding States' Rights and the 10th Amendment (thoughtco.com))..........
The Civil War was fought by the South over the sovereignty of the States over and against that of the Federal government, where the Constitution reserved rights and authority to them under the 10th Amendment... States rights.
This issue had been simmering since the Constitution was written, but had begun to reach a boiling point in the 30 years preceding the Civil War... brought about at that time through
federally imposed
tariffs (think now about why the Revolutionary War was fought... unfair tariffs...) ...which unfairly impacted the agriculturally based economies of the southern states in favor of the industrially based economies of the northern states. Lee
believed in States rights... and was willing to fight... and die if necessary, to maintain, enforce and protect the higher authority of the States, and to reign in what he saw as the oppressive hand of a burgeoning central federal authority. THAT is the reason that he famously could not fight for the federal government "AGAINST his Virginia". Essentially, the Civil War was fought by the South for the same reason that the Revolutionary War was fought over against the British. Power, and freedom from oppression. Remember too, that this was a time not THAT far removed historically from the end of that first great war in our nations history, where famous phrases like "Give me liberty, or give me death" had been enshrined. These issues were intrinsically and inseparably embedded in the DNA of these men. Honorable men like Lee saw the growing danger in this increasing "centralizing of power", and were willing, just as those who came before them, to die in order to preserve the authority of the individual States, granted to them through the efforts of the Revolutionary War, and the Constitution. Because the Confederacy was ultimately forced into surrender through military power, that oppressive hand of the federal government remained and became entrenched in history, continues to this day, and currently is viewed almost universally by our citizenry as the "higher authority".
One way that the federal government maintains this "control"
over the States is the same way that it has grown to find "control" even over its citizens.................... MONEY (remember the statement I made above... "economic crippling [or dependency] is a standard tactic of war against your enemy". Federal "handout programs".... make people.... AND STATES.... beholden to the government, and dependent upon it, and it thereby wins power and control.
Be careful what you wish for. And think long and hard about all those bail outs and subsidies.