The American Civil War

[Griff]

We've been rewriting the history of the War for Southern Independence, the War of Northern Aggression, or the Civil War since day one. Slavery was a big part of the war, but just like in Iraq the reasons for the war shifted to keep the people on board. Lincoln himself started out saying it was about the Union.

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.
What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."

August 22, 1862 - Letter to Horace Greeley

The Republican Party was the heir to the Whig Party. They were the party of "internal improvements". They more or less believed in Hamilton's powerful centralized government and an industrial America as opposed to the Democrats adherence to Thomas Jefferson's de-centralized vision of states rights in an agricultural land. These two visions grew increasingly incompatible with big political battles over taxation. The Republicans supported import taxes to support homegrown industry in the North, which unduly burdened the South because it relied on trade with England. The big government Republicans wanted federal funding for roads and canals to support their manufacturing, while the Southerners wanted to maintain their agricultural economy.

Economics...