Only the naive and the heartless could believe that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Slavery was an institution that infected the entire nation and was in fact the the economic power of the south upon which were based their political and moral views. The north was a willing partner for the most part. It doesn't matter what Lincoln or Jefferson Davis said about the war. In retrospect, it is obvious that slavery was the catalyst and in the end the "only" reason for the war.