If slavery was the sole reason for the American Civil War taking place.........?

Question

Why then Abraham Lincoln wait until January 1, 1863, almost two full years after the Civil War started, before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves?
If slavery was the sole issue for the American Civil War won't you think that Abraham Lincoln would have freed the slaves at the beginning of the Civil War instead of halfway through it.

By the answers that I have received so far proves my point exactly, that the history of the Confederacy is not as racist as everyone wants to believe.

Chi Guy: speaking of treason "Did you realize that during the War of 1812 that the New England states were talking sucession, too?" Rather hypocritcally of New England to want to preserve the Union when just 50 years earlier New England wanted to succeed from the Union all because of a war what has nowadays been declared as "The Second War For Independence."

Answer 1

read the constitution of the Confederacy and you will see that the southern states had put in motion the abolishing of slavery in the decree. seems that someone forgot to read that before posting the question. interesting reading it is, seems that history has forgotten that the real reason was that the southern states wished to protect the trade with britain its major source of trade and feared another war with britain.

Answer 2

Although Slavery may have been an issue, it wasn't the only issue in the civil war. There were other issues too, such as the taxes and tariffs that were being imposed on the South. The North was basically getting rich of the South at their expense. Then there was the over expanding federal government that was trying to take all the power into it's own hands. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves in the Southern States. It was issued because of threats from some of the Radical Republicans in Congress that were going to pull funding for the war. Which was probably why it wasn't issued earlier.

Answer 3

Prior to issuing the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862, Lincoln tried to bargain with the border states and offered them compensated emancipation. They turned it down. Meanwhile, the slaves in Washington, D.C. were freed.

From April 1861 to September 1862, Lincoln and Congress had been working on the slavery issue. Some abolitionists thought it was taking too long, some Northerners didn’t want it to happen at all and others were indifferent. I think Lincoln did the right thing in the proper amount of time.

Slavery was the primary reason for the Civil War but the solution was never an easy one to devise. The Emancipation Proclamation was an imaginative approach but Lincoln pushed Congress to start working on the 13th Amendment because he had concerns about the Proclamation withstanding legal challenge.

Answer 4

Slavery wasn't the only reason for the war, although it was the main reason. Beyond that, the North was split into two camps on slavery. One group, the Abolitionists, wanted to destroy it entirely. But the larger group took the more moderate position that slavery should be permitted where it presently existed, while being barred from moving to new areas - in other words, admitting new slave states. (There were only 31 states when Lincoln was elected.) Northerners were angry at the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that for Congress to bar slavery in a territory infringed the property rights of slave owners, and there was a legitimate concern that the Supreme Court might make the same ruling concerning the act of barring slavery from the free states, which would effectively make the entire coutry slave.

Lincoln was explicitly connected with the larger group, and had promised before being elected not to act against slavery in existing slave states. He was worried about respecting his campaign pledge and getting out in front of public opinion. He also didn't want to anger people in some border states, which had slavery but didn't secede from the union. There were secessionist in these states, who might have become the majority if Lincoln had moved immediately to emancipate slaves.

Answer 5

The reasons a nation goes to war are usually various and complicated. The American Civil War is no exception. The curious thing is that although slavery was the moral issue of the nineteenth century that divided the political leaders of the land, the average American had very little interest in slaves or slavery. Most Southerners were small farmers that could not afford slaves. Most Northerners were small farmers or tradesmen that had never even seen a slave.
The causes were economic and politcal especially in the area of state's rights. But: one has to wonder, if there was no slavery, would there have been a war?

Answer 6

The Southern states fled the union because they thought Lincoln and his Radical Republican Party was going to eventually take away their slaves. In fact, they started leaving soon after Lincoln won the election. If their candidate had won, something tells me they would have not left the union and would have never come up with that "state-rights" slogan.

That is what sparked the Civil War.

MISSISSIPPI DECLARATION OF SECESSION

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/csa/missec.htm

Answer 7

Slavery wasn't the sole or even the initial reason for the war. The South didn't believe the North had any right telling it what to do. It was more the War Between the States than a Civil War since it was a war for States Rights vs. a stronger centralized federal government.

The North was losing badly until Lincoln hit upon the idea to make the war about slavery which rallied the support of the Northerners and turned the War's progress around to the North's advantage.

Answer 8

The south fought for slavery, as shown by the state's declarations of secession. Slavery was unanimously cited as the reason for the secession.

The north fought to preserve the union, also because the south attacked America at Ft. Sumter and other places.

Answer 9

Slavery was only a minor issue...it was a war about whether states rights were ascendant over federal rights or not...read some history!!!

Answer 10

I believe this is the first and only time I've ever heard it suggested that slavery was the sole reason for the civil war. The war was about states' rights, right to secession, economics and slavery. So what is the point of the question?