Re: What are we fighting for?
You are wrong that states right were not an issue in the Civil War and before it. From the time of the nullification crisis in the 1820's states rights were a major issue in the South. There was even a Confederate General, a relative of the governor of South Carolina, whose given name was States Rights Gist. He was killed at the Battle of Franklin, Tenn, in 1864, along with four other Rebel generals.