War is politics using other methods, and the obverse is true: What were he goals of the South? States rights, black economic and political subservience, a heirarchian agricultural society, and a "Southern culture" that tried to perpetuate that of England in the 1700s. Once Reconstruction ended, the South accomplishd all of those until the Seond Civil War was finally won, with the passage of the Federal – "the Union" – Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1964 and the Voting Rights Act. Thousands died in the 90 years after Reconstruction, and the Battles of Mongomery and Birmingham were every bit as critical as Gettysburg and Peterburg. For nearly a century, the South achieved its primary goals, and even now "states rights" and "affirmative action" and the Federal Government are powerful political issues.

The South won, and has not been fully defeated even today. Those who believe in James Earl Ray know I'm right; we honor Martin Luther King as a warrior, and we hope – we HOPE – that he won.

And lets not forget, at this time, South Carolina which threatened secession under their home grown Andrew Jackson, did not have an election, a committee made the determination of the electors for President.

Why was there a war, the was unstoppable movement to the abolishment of the institution of slavery

As for Grant (whose autobiography is the best I've ever read), he was a fine tactician but a brilliant strategist, while Lee was the opposite, at best. Lee certainly had the Army of the Potomac dazzled, but I can't help but to think it was Little Mac's incompetence reflected as glory that mesmerized them more than anything Lee did, a hypnotic trance Grant later had great difficulty snapping them out of.

I find most of the comments here excellent and thoughtful, by the way — they've ignited reconsiderations, always entertaining.

Moreover, it is by no means clear that slavery would have died out naturally. Slaves worked in some Southern factories, like the Tredegar Works. Want to bet that trainloads of slaves couldn't have been headed North to work in factories there, or West to work in mines? After Dred Scott, the Federal Government had no power to prevent slaveowners from taking slaves to the territories. And there was a case working its way through the federal courts toward Roger Taney's Supreme Court which stood for the proposition that even free states could not forbid slaveowners from taking slaves into those states and working them there.

Lincoln had it right:

Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said \the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.\

Also, Lee may have been a great battlefield commander, but he had to be the worst quartermaster in history. His armies were always starving in the midst of plenty. Grant, by contrast, was a great quartermaster, who always saw to it that his troops were well fed and well equipped.

Finally, although Grant's losses were greater in absolute numbers, Lee's losses as a percentage of his troops were always higher than Grant's. If the Grant of Cold Harbor was a butcher, he was no more a butcher than the Lee of Pickett's charge.

Grant was a brilliant strategist, but a very capable tactical master in his own right. He consistantly out moved his opponents, every one of them in the West both tactically and strategically. Grant was very capable of out manuevering Lee as well, but the Generals of the East were under Lee's spell.

The story of Grant during the Overland Campaign whittling while the battle raged and chastizing an Officer that was in his presence worrying about Lee attacking in the rear of the Army. Grant told the Officer to focus on what the Union forces were going to do to Lee and not what Lee might do to the Union Forces.

The McClellanites (officers promoted and beholden to McClellan) were prominent members of the Army of the Potomac and Grant realized he need to do somwthing drastic to get the Army to best Lee. After Upton's assault, Grant tried to break Lees lines at the Mule Shoe on an grand Corps level. when his officer could not press their advantage, Grant tried to out move Lee locally, Grant could not get the Army to move at a speed he was accustomed to so he made his only real mistake of the campaign,Cold Harbor – a place that has forever tainted his reputation as a great commander.

No one remembers that Grant disengaged from Lee, jumped two rivers at three points to arrive at Petersburg with two full Corps facing less than 10,000 Confederate reservists, and Smith and Hancock let him down again. Lee refused to acknowledge Grant was even there for more than 24 hours.

Grant then took all of Lee's mobility away from him. Grant pins Lee to Petersburg and Richmond and just starves him out. As the seige progresses, Grant is able to replace McClellanites with Corps Commanders of his choosing, so by the end of the campaign, Meade, Sheridan and Ord as Army Commanders
Humphries, Griffin, Wright, Parke, Gibbon, Wetzel and Merritt for the Cavalry as Corps Commanders

This group was agile enough to break the seige and Five Forks and the Breakthough at whatis now Pamplin Park, mop up Petersburg and Richmond and still move quickly enough to block Lee at every turn right up to Appomattox Courthouse.

The Star Crossed Army of Tennessee (CSA) was a fine gorup of men, but even more cursed than the Army of the Potomac. It could never have accomplished that mission, and for all of Hood's abilities as a fighter, he could never have pulled off such an undertaking.

What Sherman did in Georgia and the Carolinas has never been duplicated and should stand along with Ceasar's crossing of the Rhine as a remarkable Military Operation unique in the History of Warfare.

Someone, perhaps it was \Stonewall\ Jackson, is said to have wanted to march on DC immediately after First Bull Run. Hannibal's generals also wanted him to attack Rome immediately after Cannae. In both cases, the commanders chose, I think wisely, not to attack a defended city in enemy territory with a battered, tired army.

The South needed a swift, smashing \knock out punch\ in the first months to win. But I really don't think they had the wherewithal to land it, although Gen. Grant did throw out a tantalizing idea. In 1864, when Hood had Thomas bottled up in Nashville, Grant is supposed to have growled that, had he been in Hood's position, he would have left a covering force to confine Thomas and bypassed Nashville, heading for Chicago. Instead Hood forced a fight with Thomas and had his army virtually obliterated. But a race for Chicago, late in the war, with all eyes on Virginia, could have been a real game changer.

The whiskey rebellion was a rebellion the south by orderly means under the constitution of their states met and choose to leave the Union. That secession was considered by many constitutional is attested to the Hartford convention were New England met to consider secession.
Two states Massachusetts and Virginia had in their state
constitution the prerogative to leave the Union. The Communist Chinese have in fact brought up Abraham Lincoln as an example of why they should be allowed to take over Taiwan and Tibet..

the fact remains that Lincoln was the cause of the war as he decided that states did not have the right to secede and thus invaded them. Whether he was constitutionally right is a moot point.
Also the deep south did secede over the economic issue of slavery, This is not true of the border states.. Sherman targeted Civilians, executed some. The north was as virulently racist as the south with a few exceptions Certainly Lincoln was just read the Douglas debates.Lincoln had thousands arrested without writ, he has opposing newspapers burned downed .n the blistering summer of 1861, President Lincoln began pressuring and ordering the physical shutdown of any Northern newspaper that voiced opposition to the war. These attacks were sometimes carried out by soldiers, sometimes by angry mobs under cover of darkness. Either way, the effect was a complete dismantling of the free press.