The Emancipation Proclamation was signed on January 1st, 1863. LINK
It seems to me an argument could be made that if the war had been about slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation would have been issued early on after the war started.
I have read that the war had grown unpopular, and funds were running so short that Lincoln faced not being able fund his war effort, and that was why he offered up the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863.
Seems a bit of an afterthought in desperate times.
I've never quite been convinced the war was as much about slavery as dynamics surrounding states rights. Of course the two were probably intertwined as well.
The Civil War is something folks will discuss with vigor for the life of the Republic.
When folks carp about slavery and why it wasn't addressed at the inception of our nation, the Civil war is worthy of mention regarding states rights and slavery.
It is crystal clear that if Slavery had been addressed at our founding, there would be no United States today, at least not as we traditionally think of it.
Agrred, they were “intertwined”
Slavery was simply one of many powers that the South felt they had been guaranteed by the Constitution. But they were many more and many on this forum choose to belittle or ignore the “others”.