I really don ' t like this whitewashing . Sure , it may have also been about states ' rights , but it was about the states ' rights exclusively to keep slavery legal . Two exercises which support this point of view . 1 The South Carolina declaration of secession PDF after the 1860 election . Included in this document are several direct statements about how the nonslaveholding states were hostile to slave holding states But an increasing hostility on the part of the nonslaveholding States to the institution ofslavery , has led to a disregard of their obligations , and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution A geographical line has been drawn across theUnion , and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States , whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery . 2 If you compare the Confederate Constitution to the U . S . Constitution , many of the sections were copied verbatim . The most prominent difference in the Confederate Constitution was the constitutional legality of slavery italics is added clauseArticle IV , Section 2 . U . S . Constitution The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States . Article IV , Section 2 . Confederate Constitution 1 The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy , with their slaves and other property and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired . The only other significant differences between the U . S . Constitution and the Confederate Constitution is the Confederate Presidency term was capped at one 6 year term and had a lineitem veto power , and the Confederacy constitutionally limited the amount of internal improvement domestic infrastructure spending . Gee , doesn ' t that last part sound pretty familiar with today ' s Republican party . It ' s almost as if the modern Republican party of neoConfederates was literally rooted from the actual Confederate traitors . The argument that the Civil War was about slavery but also states ' rights ! !! is a whitewash against the fact that it was 100 % about slavery . And that any claim about states ' rights was exclusively the states ' rights to keep slaves . Ergo , still 100 % about slavery . edit sure , not every Confederate soldier were true believers in the cause , they just followed orders . However , you can be assured that Jefferson Davis and the core of the southern secessionists and Confederate government absolutely were true believers in slavery , and the Civil War was 100 % fought to keep that legal right for the region .