I highly recommend members of this list to read "The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War" by Thomas J. DiLorenzo (2002). After reading it, see if you still think slavery was the cause of the Civil War. It certainly was not! DiLorenzo is an economist; his well-researched and copiously-documented study affirms that centralization of the government and economic issues alone was the causative factor (a far less "sexy" theory than the emotionally-charged issue of slavery). Nancy Bowen