[El Sordo]

Don't forget that the Union had slave holding states too. Slaves states on the Union side were exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation.

Slavery was a minor issue in the Civil War.

[r9etb]

Slavery was a minor issue in the Civil War.

Next I suppose you'll be telling us that Islam is a religion of peace.

Let us suppose that slavery was indeed a minor issue in the civil war. Why did the South secede, then? (And why did slavery figure so prominently in those wily Southerners' Declarations of Secession?)

[TheDon]

Your reply is correct, except for the last sentence. Try imagining a reason for the South to secede if slavery had never been introduced to the Americas. You even state, "Slaves states on the Union side were exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation." The reason they were exempt was to keep them from joining the Confederacy.