Craig,
"Slavery was THE issue during this period, there can be no doubt."

This sounds exactly like the "agenda" I mentioned earlier concerning the NPS and our Federal Government. The South was a farming/planter society while the North was becoming increasingly industrialized. HUGE tarriffs on imported goods coming into the South from Europe not only provided a large amount of revenue to the Federal Government but it also forced the South to deal with Northern industrialists in order to avoid these tarriffs. Either way Southern money went North. The South basically paid the tab for America's expenses during the early 1800's. I'd have to conclude that "THE issue" at the onset of the war was how to get Washington's hand out of the South's pockets. Kinda like today if you think about it. States rights and a smaller less controlling central (spelled Federal) government is what concerned Southerners. Slavery was an evil institution that was not exclusive to America. However ending it was not as easy as legislating it out of existence. This process opens the issue of what to do with literally millions of uneducated and unskilled individuals freed into open society. This situation is not unlike the illegal immigration issues we face today.

In Capitol Square here in Richmond is a huge statue of George Washington. He is sitting on his horse in a military uniform, stern faced with his hand raised and finger pointing.........South. The South has been getting "fingered" by Washington for hundreds of years. I see it as a real estate problem. Look at a map of America in the 1600's, it was all Virginia. Today, less Virginia, more problems. That's a joke y'all. Or maybe not so much.

Keith