darth_ender said:

^Exactly. I again admit I am somewhat ignorant on the topic, but those who claim it was only this or purely that are oversimplifying the issue--a very human trait that we do with nearly everything. It is easily explainable by both issues. A great deal of tension existed between the North and the South. Much of this revolved around slavery, but it also revolved around the understanding of loyalty to the federal or state governments. Prior to the Civil War, most citizens' loyalties was greater to their state than their nation. Considering the tensions, and considering that the South wanted to practice a lifestyle they felt was hindered by the North, they withdrew. I heard the analogy of being part of a club. If you found that your interests were not served by the club, you withdraw. That was seen as acceptable. Lincoln fought the Civil War to preserve the Union, and opportunely justified to the whole country the evils of slavery and illegalized it completely.

Again, slavery led to secession. The war was fought to preserve. With the war came the end of slavery for all states. And as was pointed out before, it was also an economic issue, because slaves were indeed an important economic commodity, and the end of slavery devastated the Southern economy--imagine the loss of all that free labor, the drastic changes in the trade when a resource became illegal. I don't mean to demean those of African decent by referring to them as "commodities" and such, but My point is that indeed, to those who saw them as less than human, it was a hard thing to give up. The War was not just about one thing or another. It was a complex issue with slavery and unity at the heart of it.

Well put.