Despite the limited terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, it marked a decisive shift in the North's war aims, from simple preservation of the union to preservation plus the end of slavery.
If the South had instead remained in the union, they could have stymied abolition while undertaking gradual reforms that ameliorated the conditions of slavery. Doing so would have preserved the South's prosperity and political power.
The Southern states reasons for leaving have nothing to do with the Northern States reasons for forcing them back in. Since the Northern States had control of the war, it was *THEIR* reasons that mattered in the conflict, not the Southern States reasons for wanting out of the Union.
The Northern states had no interest in stopping slavery when the war began. They only wanted to get those Southern states back under their control.
Despite the limited terms of the Emancipation Proclamation, it marked a decisive shift in the North's war aims, from simple preservation of the union to preservation plus the end of slavery.
Well see, there you go. Yes it did mark a decisive shift. It moved the goal posts to something other than what actually started the war. If the point of the North going to war wasn't to end slavery, then why do people keep repeating that it was?
If the South had instead remained in the union, they could have stymied abolition while undertaking gradual reforms that ameliorated the conditions of slavery. Doing so would have preserved the South's prosperity and political power.
On the other hand, had they simply been allowed to remain independent, they could have been even more prosperous anyways without having to listen to their Moral superiors in the North East telling them what horrible human beings they were.
Producing 3/4ths of all US Exports without New York taking a 40% cut out of their profits would have given them plenty of capital to build industries to rival the North. This I think was the real reason why the US went to war with them. There were plenty of Robber Barons with power and influence who would have lost both had the South remained independent of their control.