Events that Led to the Civil War: Slavery as an Economic Engine Not a Moal Isssue

[Minimalist]

If the north and south had wanted to fight about "slavery" they could have done so any time in the 40 years since the Missouri Compromise.

If you take the time to read the diaries of confederate and union enlisted men there was practically no talk of slavery as a "cause."  The north was fighting against "treason" and the south was fighting for what they perceived as their "rights."  Few southerners owned slaves and even fewer owned more than one or two.  The upper class beat the drums for war but they were careful to hide it from the guys in the ranks.

The name of Sam Watkins' book is Company Aytch ( H ).  Fascinating reading.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Negro_Law

While this new provision provoked little criticism in some areas of the South, such as Virginia,[8] it proved extremely unpopular with much of the rank-and-file soldiery in the Confederate Army. Sam Watkins writes of his own feelings toward this particular provision:

A law was made by the Confederate States Congress about this time allowing every person who owned twenty negroes to go home. It gave us the blues; we wanted twenty negroes. Negro property suddenly became very valuable, and there was raised the howl of "rich man's war, poor man's fight."