What mainly caused the Civil War?

[7,052,770]

I don't see any point in arguing over the Civil War.  It happened 150 years ago....All arguing does is make people hate people from other parts of the country.

[7,052,770]

It's fine, we all get carried away.  This thread is much better than most responses to personal issues.  The question is legitimate and sparked an intense discussion.  Don't feel bad about it, just move on.  It happens to all of us.  It's just that DWTL seems to be caught in these things quite regularly.  Hence my frustrated response.

You wanna debate or you want to get personal?  I don't get caught up in personal battles often (Gporter and EMD are actually the only two I can think of)

Anyway, why would the common southerner want to fight to preserve slavery when they did not own slaves?  I know the whole argument that the slaves were lower classed than the poor whites, but they still would have been even when slavery ended.  They wanted to preserve their way of life, which did not include slaves.

The average Southerner was not fighting to preserve slavery.  However, the main cause of the war was the economic differences of the North and South, and it just so happens that the entire Southern economy rested on slavery.
So although slavery wasn't "the point" of the war, it was definitely at the heart of it all.

[7,052,770]

The average Southerner was not fighting to preserve slavery.  However, the main cause of the war was the economic differences of the North and South, and it just so happens that the entire Southern economy rested on slavery.
So although slavery wasn't "the point" of the war, it was definitely at the heart of it all.

But while slavery was certainly a main factor in the economic differences, it was not the reason for the war.  If you made the point it was the reason for economic differences, I would buy that.  But the idea that the North started the war because it found slavery immoral is ridiculous.

Of course that idea is ridiculous.  Who actually thinks the North started a war to liberate slaves on moral grounds?
The fact remains, though, that slavery is at the root of the cause, as it was the key economic difference in the North and South.

[7,052,770]

I am ashamed every time I see a flagpole that our state flies the symbol of traitors.