I don't disagree so long as we are contextualizing the question.
"Was slavery the central issue to Lincoln's War?" No. Hell no. Obviously. No argument exists to say that slavery was the primary motivator in Lincoln's decision making regarding a military response to secession. In fact, propaganda efforts on both sides were made to specifically identify it as a "White Man's War", that blacks shouldn't even be involved in.
But, objectively, was slavery the central issue to the American Civil War? I would say yes. If the issue of slavery was already settled, would the American Civil War have even happened? No, I don't think so. Best you might get was a small scale conflict, but the issue of slavery was broiling the culture to a fever pitch, and had been doing so for decades. Economics, taxes, tariffs, central government control, all of these played a part and could certainly caused a secession crisis, but in both previous crises, neither resulted in the death of 2% of the population of the US.
So yeah, if we're speaking clearly about what our context is, then our statements make sense.
I can even admit that slavery was indirectly a cause from Lincoln's side. The abolitionists were a strong political faction, so some of what he did was playing to that bloc despite thinking they were fools.
I don't disagree so long as we are contextualizing the question.
"Was slavery the central issue to Lincoln's War?" No. Hell no. Obviously. No argument exists to say that slavery was the primary motivator in Lincoln's decision making regarding a military response to secession. In fact, propaganda efforts on both sides were made to specifically identify it as a "White Man's War", that blacks shouldn't even be involved in.
But, objectively, was slavery the central issue to the American Civil War? I would say yes. If the issue of slavery was already settled, would the American Civil War have even happened? No, I don't think so. Best you might get was a small scale conflict, but the issue of slavery was broiling the culture to a fever pitch, and had been doing so for decades. Economics, taxes, tariffs, central government control, all of these played a part and could certainly caused a secession crisis, but in both previous crises, neither resulted in the death of 2% of the population of the US.
So yeah, if we're speaking clearly about what our context is, then our statements make sense.
I can even admit that slavery was indirectly a cause from Lincoln's side. The abolitionists were a strong political faction, so some of what he did was playing to that bloc despite thinking they were fools.
Alright, yeah, that's fair. The Republican Party definitely gained prominence using slavery as a cultural issue.