But they went to war because they didn't want the Yankees telling them what to do about slavery.
Economics was an important factor.
Yes, probably the most important factor. The Yankees were disgusted by the economics of slavery (a system where production was controlled by slaves, motivated by fear of physical punishment, and not free workers incentivized by the idea of advancement, self improvement, and more money) and the South feared their means of production, slaves, would be freed by the democratic actions of their countrymen.
when you consider the percentage of Southerners who fought in the war who owned slaves, it could not have been the major issue. Why would I, a person who does not own slaves, fight for your right, as a slaveholder, to own slaves?--just doesn't make sense.
They fought because they were invaded and people they knew were killed. They were invaded because their feudal masters seceeded over their desire to hold slaves.
And then, there is always the fact that people just resist change--any change, whatever it is--especially rural, independent people.
Sure. The change they were resisting was the end of slavery.
The sad thing about it is that Lincoln was obsessed. If he had let the South go, it would have eventually rejoined the Union. Also, the southern states would have eventually eliminated slavery on their own. Then we would not have all the animosity we have today.
This isn't even worth discussing. No one has any idea what would have happened. There was no way to avoid horrible war once secesstion occurred. Given simple demographics, there is no way the "South Woulda Won" (except possibly by fighting a purely defensive war, and even then the best they would have acheived would have been a generation's independence, then probably been knocked over by the north, which even without the south would have been the most powerful country in the world by 1890s.)
The war between the states was all about slavery. In the very largest sense, it was about the agricultural age giving way to the industrial age, but slavery was certainly the most important factor in the alienation, separation, and war between north and south.