The Emancipation Proclamation would have been in the beginning of it IF slavery was The Driving Issue. But,logic isn't exactly what runs the minds of commies,so of course it's all about race.
Never mind the logical points I made regarding increasing the population of a place By Decree. If the population isn't derived organically, as in,to meet the Needs Of the society, then it's Imbalanced,, which is something you commies should understand.

Slavery was the foundation. The slavery states evolved their way of life, laws, and concept of state rule during that period so the idea of states rights not being related to slavery just is not correct. Of course it was.

I’ve read dozens if not, hundreds of letters from both the north and the south troops to family back home and the slave issue is a regular topic. Keeping the Republic together was primary but slavery was almost always mentioned or referred to. There’s no way around that.

Not that states rights weren’t an issue worth discussing and didn’t have some role to play, but there’s no way around it: slavery was the foundational issue of the Civil War.