All right, then how did slavery impact the war?
Basically, the dispute over slavery was not that it should be ended, but that the Federal Government should have the right to stipulate whether new states entering the Union could enter as non-slave states or slave states. The South felt strongly that the question should be decided by the people of the states, not the Federal Government, as there was no Constitutional basis for it. This is the argument of States Rights, that the rights not specifically delegated to the Federal Government are reserved for the states. The dispute over states rights was that the South believed, correctly, that the Federal Government was exceeding its Constitutional authority. The question of slavery in the new states impacted the struggle between North and South for political dominance. New slave states would give the South more Congressional representation and thus more political muscle to resist the high tariffs imposed by the North. The North opposed the expansion of slave states for reasons of politic
