"This war is not about slavery"

This quote by Robert E. Lee is a tip that the American Civil War was not contested the issue of slavery. Lee was a Confederate general and a slave owner himself, yet he believed that the war was not about slavery. He believed that the war had to do with the conservation of the Union and the rights of the states. He argued that the North was trying to impose its will on the South which the South was defending its self-reliance. He also thought that the North was using slavery as a pretext for war. Lee's quote is a reminder that the Civil War was a complicated conflict with many causes, and that slavery was only one of them. It is likewise a reminder that the war was a disaster for all included, no matter their views on slavery.