But, Greg, I have barely begun to discuss the matter! (grin)

I also don't have the time, but there is a great deal more I could say about the root causes for that war, specially as regards various economic issues of the time and issues of proportional representation in Congress and how that translated into political power....

As I say, if I had the time...

To put it very briefly, the South felt that they were being politically disenfranchised and marginalized by the more populous North, because of how voting works in the USA House of Representatives, whose membership is proportionate to population in the various states. This led gradually to a seemingly irreconcilable schism between North and South. Then there was the slavery issue, a hot moral issue with tremendous propaganda possibilities, and that naturally exacerbated the divide further. Then there were various issues relating to industry and commerce.

One could easily write a 10,000 word essay on it, I should think, because it was a damnably complex situation. It was made worse by the fact that there was a good deal of arrogance and pugnacity on both sides of the aisle, as it were.