Sure. The direct cause of warfare for the North/Federal government was the firing on Fort Sumter. But the general reason that brought both sides into inevitable conflict was absolutely and almost entirely the issue of slavery. To deny that is to admit absolute ignorance of historical facts dating from the creation of the United States to seceding states in 1861.
Now we can get into semantics about "causes" or what the war "was about," but I have no desire to do that. The Southern/Confederate states got their panties into a bunch because they thought they were about to lose their "right" to treat people with darker skin as property. That's the historical record and there is overwhelming evidence to corroborate it.
So, when TDV says:
The great majority of them don’t even realize that the civil war had absolutely nothing to do with slavery.
He's not only parroting the idiotic revisionism of charlatan "scholars," but he's demonstrating that he either 1) has no understanding of history himself or 2) has no problem with completely and intentionally misrepresenting it...lying in order to push his agenda.
My point is - you don't need to make a fool of yourself and disseminate factually incorrect information in order to condemn the coercive state and advance anarchist ideals. In fact, when you do that, you only serve to discredit yourself and your philosophy. And since I am an anarchist myself, what he and others say and do under the self-identity of "anarchists" casts a poor light on me and others like me who don't share their ignorant/incorrect views/understanding of historical facts/records.
A nice post, sir.
And yes , I agree with you (and historical fact) about the southern states stressing about their possible sudden reduction in very very cheap labor.
Saying 'it had absolutely nothing' may have been a little....absolute.
There is still value in the statement though - especially for people who know little except what the standard history(channel) says.
Portraying the war as a 'war about slavery' is incorrect, and portraying it as that - simplistically - is simply following the political narrative served up,
at the time.
(in my opinion)