The war was ONLY about slavery, to those who can not justify the Northern War effort by any other measure. That is their only defence and justification for Northern aggression. It is a sham argument because no other country in the world ever fought a war with itself to free any slaves.
Independence from corrupt power for the south, and the desire to maintain power and control over the southern states for the north, are two more powerful reasons for going to war, in my opinion, than emancipating the slaves.
That is the reason I asked, was the threat of secession in 1860, really more of a cause for the War Between the States, than abolishion of slavery. Was it the anti-secession plank in the Republican platform the key that gave Lincoln such a majority victory in the northern state elections over two better known candidates?