[Beetle01]

I think Lincoln, more than anything else, wanted to preserve the Union because he believed that democracy, with rights protected by a Constitution, and people empowered by the vote and free voice, was "the last best hope on earth." So, I guess, strictly speaking, the Civil War was not about ending slavery in the territorial United States.

So you basically just said Lincoln violated the rights of the constitution to preserve them? The people of the southern states voiced opinions and secceeded. They were then invaded by the North.

So we have ruled out that it was not fought over slavery,since there were slave states who fought for the north.

We have ruled out it was not Lincoln's constitutional obligation, he actually violated the constitution in a major way.

So what was the reason? To preserve the Union? The southern states had no intentions of initially secceeding (The north forced thier hand) and would have eventually joined back up anyways. The states can't survive without eachother, however, that doesn't mean that any state should sit idly by and allow the other states to force their will on them. That in itself is oppression.