Most people would agree that the morality of slavery was a factor in the Civil War, but was it the only factor?

Most people would agree that the morality of slavery was a factor in the Civil War, but was it the only factor?

Because of the huge impact of slavery and the modern repugnance it engenders any other reasons are really irrelevant. People may try to argue that it was actually about states rights, but right to do what? Have slavery. To protect a lifestyle, again supported by slavery. To protect an economy, again supported by slavery. And the most ridiculous, a claim that slaves benefited from slavery, does not. even deserve a response.

I think the key word in this question is "morality." For many slavery was a moral issue, but for others it was intensely economic. The stability of the southern economy depended on the continued presence of slaves. Still, as paulagb observes, slavery was the centerpiece

Both of these are great points! It's interesting to reflect on the moral vs economic ideas that surrounded slavery at the time.

The economics of slavery and political control of that system was central to the conflict. A key issue was states rights. The Southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government so they could abolish federal laws that they didn't support, especially laws interfering with the South's rights to keep slaves and take them wherever they wished.
Another factor was territorial expansion. The South wished to take slavery into the western territories, while the North was committed to keeping them open to white labor alone.
During that time , the newly formed Republican party, whose members were strongly opposed to the westward expansion of slavery into new states, was gaining prominence. The election of a Republican, Abraham Lincoln, in 1860 sealed the deal. His victory, without a single Southern electoral vote, was a clear signal to the Southern states that they had lost all influence.
Feeling excluded from the political system, the South turned to the only alternative they believed was left to them: succession, a political decision that led directly to war.

It was one factor, and as stated rights to be a free state from slavery that was also a pre-existing

It was one factor, and as stated rights to be a free state from slavery that was also a pre-existing factor. If you are From the South, it's not called the Civil War. It's called the War Between the States.

Yes, slavery was an issue in the Civil War. However, the war was also about the lifestyle of the Southern Plantation owners. This was free labor to pick their cotton, harvest their crops, clean their houses, raise their children and cook their food. True, they had to provide housing for their slaves, but most of the housing was of poor quality. if the plantation owners had to pay their workers a salary, they wouldn't have made as much money as they did.

Renem said it all so well, economics and politics, but as time as passed the slavery factor as become and stayed front and center.

Slavery was the major factor of the Civil War. It was the basis of the economic situation, the bases of the human rights situation and the bases of the political differences.

Having recently moved to N.C this is a timely question. Some may not say that it was slavery that drove the war because as said by others they would rather see it as a war between the states. After all slaver were considered property not human beings. Even today we have the statues with not so nice words indicating why this MAN was important in the civil war. There are still demonstrations in town with KKK attending. Then there is the Confederate flag at the entrance off the highway, private land, and the huge one on the back of a pickup truck. Yes I was in the north most of my life. My rant is over