The issue of slavery was a very complex one which neither side had an answer for. It came down to money, need for cheap labor, fear of former slaves becoming too powerful, the loss of a way of life and Northern politicians running the country to their complete advantage at the cost of the South footing the bills. If the South ended up paying all the bills with no say so in the running of the country is that not much different than the reason their grandfathers rebelled against the Crown?
A vast amount of wealth was tied up in slaves and no government solution was ever considered for payment for freeing the salves. If slave owners frees their slaves they loose that value. Had the government offered to buy the slaves many owners would have been more inclined to free them. With large land holding you need lots of labor to farm it. Back then you could not just buy a larger tractor. But most slaves ended up working the land as free men. That was their job skill set and all many ever knew.
Slave prices had been in steady decline for almost 20 years. It was simple economics. Land fertility was being depleted by cotton and tobacco planting, with no fertilizer use to replenish what the crops were taking out of the soil. If crops only produced half of what they did decades before the value of labor to tend them went down. In many areas slaves did not produce enough to break even. It was certain that slavery would have died within 20 years even without the Civil War. The Civil War just caused it to occur sooner.
But in the end those who write the history get to make the history fit their viewpoint. So the economics of slavery forcing its end because it was no longer profitable is denied.
