“It was not the South that they wanted to attack. It was the institution of slavery.”
That is an interesting comment.
Setting aside for a moment the possibility that attacking slavery was a pretext for destroying political and economic rivals who happened to be in the South; setting that aside, slavery was legal and had a rich history North and South.
In fact, slavery was enshrined in the United States Constitution. Those fighting to overthrow slavery through the use of violence were trying to overthrow the Constitution through the use of violence.
In those years, a rising notion that a person should not be owned as one would own a dog or a horse was becoming widely held. Slavery had been outlawed in most Northern States.
Those folks had a moral view that slavery was wrong. It did not matter that it was ensconced in the Constitution.
Just as today, there are those that believe Roe V Wade and it’s consequences are immoral, even though it is the law of the land. There are those that believe that it morally acceptable.
Do you believe that slavery is morally acceptable.