Answer:
The American Civil War of 1861, supposedly initiated as a struggle between the North and the South, due to the issue of slavery, its abolition and the emancipation of slaves, as well as the granting of rights for them. However, one thing was the banner reason, the one to show to the world, and another, the interests hidden behind the emancipation agenda.
Initially, although many did believe in emancipation, and the granting of rights for African Americans, and they fought for that cause, in the case of polititians, it also became a tug of power, a desire to stop the southern political leaders from overtaking those of the North, because their numbers, including their slaves, would ensure that they would pass legislation that would let them move slavery further to the newer territories of the West. This agenda, has never been shown, as polititians still wave proudly the banner of emancipation and African American freedom.
The truth after the War ended, was, that although slaves found their freedom, they were barred, even by their initial protectors from the North, from acquiring the full power of their rights, and they were relegated to segregation, even in the states of the North. Little was done for them, either in the North, or the South, by polititians, as the Northerners did not want to re-ingnite the conflict, and decided in many cases to turn a blind eye to the violation of the rights that were supposedly won through the Civil War.
This is one example of how polititians have clouded the issue of the cause of the Civil War.
