>it was about slavery!
>no it was about states' rights!
Why do americans keep using those arguments?
Is this just an internet meme?
The entire thing was clearly about politics.

>the political/social/ideological/economic discrepancy between north & south was peaking, to the point they basically behaved and operated like two different entities already
>the entire political environment shaped itself around the north/south dichotomy
>the south-oriented party (dem) was utterly failing to retain popularity, to the point it pretty much collapsed into multiple wings (further splitting their already diminishing electorate)
>any hope of ever controlling the executive again was crashing with no survivors
>northern demography was exploding and they kept importing european immigrants, which means the south was losing Congress for good as well
>the federal government, which pretty much embraced the classic Hamiltonian ideas of centralization/protectionism/industrialization, was NEVER going to allow future states to be built around the opposite Jeffersonian model (a population of small land owners, agriculture over industry, economic liberalism, small gov etc)
>which means balance in Congress was never going back, and the south was forced to either give up on political representation or secede

It all comes down to politics.
Slavery was obviously a big part of the picture but it wasn't really the point, as
>Lincoln wasn't an abolitionist
>his campaign had nothing to do with the issue and he didn't even touch the subject until it was convenient to weaken the confederacy
>Border states had slavery but they didn't join the confederacy, hell Lincoln even let them keep their slaves
>the single democratic candidate with the biggest percentage of votes was in favor of letting states abolish slavery; 3/4 of his electoral college votes were from the south
Did the northern effort to reframe the conflict on ideological grounds work so well it's still monopolizing the discourse to this day?

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>it was about slavery!>no it was about states' rights!Why do americans keep using those arguments?Is this just an internet…

>it was about slavery!
>no it was about states' rights!
Why do americans keep using those arguments?
Is this just an internet…