States' Wrongs

The 150th anniversary of secession is coming up (Dec. 20), and there's a good New York Times article here about the festivities being planned. The following excerpt sums up my view of the cause of war and why, I think, the anniversary should not be celebrated:

Most historians say it is impossible to carve out slavery from the context of the war. As James W. Loewen, a liberal sociologist and author of “Lies My Teacher Told Me,” put it: “The North did not go to war to end slavery, it went to war to hold the country together and only gradually did it become anti-slavery — but slavery is why the South seceded.”