Would the American Civil War be viewed differently today?

Due to the involvement of the issue of slavery the Civil War is often presented as a noble war, with Abraham Lincoln as a hero. That's how I grew up learning about it.

But if you take away the issue of slavery, as a hypothetical exercise, would we still view it the same way?

Is it morally acceptable in today's world to force States that want to secede to remain? Would Lincoln be viewed as a failure for failing to prevent a war which killed an estimated 2% of the population?

I'm not an expert or even an American and this post is not meant to be political, or lead to a rancorous political discussion

I'm just curious, and curious what people's perspectives are...

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wildbill83 · 36-40, M

Most people today are completely ignorant about the actual history of the civil war, they make it solely about slavery and completely ignore any other context.

In essence, the federal government did the same thing they're doing today; rally fools behind a controversial issue as a means to undermine the Constitution & the Republic this country was designed to be and give themselves more power

Activitykittens

@wildbill83 yes, it appears to have been about a lot more than slavery.

Are you saying that it was Federal overreach? It's again hard to separate from the issue of slavery (which is very emotive) but are you saying it was an issue of the Feds not respecting the rights of States to make their own laws or that the Constitution and the Republic was meant to be a voluntary union, and the ability to secede was built in?

wildbill83 · 36-40, M

@Activitykittens the founding fathers would be appalled at the amount of federal taxation we have today. Taxation without representation was the primary grievance of early colonists and trigger for the American revolution.