The Emancipation Proclamation was a war move, but remember that it was followed up by the 13th amendment done my the same administration. Slavery was already illegal in most of the north, save for a few border states where slaves were already being confiscated or freed based on martial law.
The North fought the war for the sake of national prestige and stability, which in a convoluted sense means money as well(though saying it was only for money is lazy history). I'm definitely not saying that the war was over slavery. Your average northerner at the time wasn't necessarily abolitionist, and the thought of freeing slaves caused people to fear for their jobs, since freed slaves would be used to worse conditions and willing to work more hours for less pay.
But to call it the War of Northern Aggression is embarrassing. Hell, I think the American Revolution was a just revolution but I don't blame the British for their part in it. When a group of people try to destabilize and tear apart the nation for personal gain, it would be irresponsible to shrug it off. The South would have mostly likely evolved into a fucked to death banana republic, and the North would have found itself in competition that would have stunted its growth. They would either have came together sometime in the future, or they would have remained apart and all of us who live in the states would have been poorer for it.
Seriously, i'm not hatin' on these people. They were wrong, but many of them did see it as an attack on their homes. Robert E Lee might just be the most brilliant military mind the American civilization has ever produced, and his eastern campaign is one of the most fascinating war stories in world history where you can't help but root for him. However, if we are to be adults about this thing, the larger southern cause was all negative. Tear apart the country for the economic benefit of a couple wealthy men who's wealth was based on plantation slavery? Fuck them.
Wilted Rose
