Phatscotty wrote:If the Civil War was fought only over slavery, then why did the Civil War start in 1861 but the Emancipation Proclamation was not drafted until 1863?
Perspective is the answer.
Lincoln was an abolitionist, but he had no plans to end slavery when he became president. At that time he just wanted to hold America together. Other than John Brown's raiders, there wasn't a powerful enough call to immediately end slavery. But the movement was gaining some headway. Southern slave owners realized that they had lost their bargaining power in the Federal Government when America's triangle trade between the west, North, and South ended. This made the Abolitionists in the Federal government brave enough to stop compromising... and even in the Territories the Feds stopped enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The writing was on the wall and the South knew that they had to get out while the getting was good, so the election became their powder-keg issue.
Of course, not all Southerners or Northerners wanted the war. Sam Houston wisely tried to stop Texas from joining the Confederacy. And after years of bitter political fights, many Northern newspapers simply wrote the South off with -
"Good Riddance!" BUT I RAMBLE ON ABOUT FASCINATING HISTORY AND THE ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION IS
PERSPECTIVE.