I've always thought that I was really really bad at American history, but this is just sad.
Though, I think the question of "what was the civil war about" is sort of a loaded question since most people would just say 'slavery' which wasn't the only reason it happened.
This true, there were multiple reasons.
For the record, only the rich southerners known as the planter class could afford slavery. Not everyone had slave in the south.
What a lot people also seem to forget is that there is no good and bad in war, there is no black and white, only grey. Both sides did some bad stuff throughout the war and prior to that.
For example the North was very powerful when it came to politics, man power, and industrial strength. For example the north was able to lobby more for federal money. The money was then used to fund steam boats, railroads, paved roads, and factories. Meanwhile any tax money from the south was used to fund the North and in return the southerners got nothing.
The south, as many people know it; is pretty rural. There aren't as many cities and factories compared to the north. So the grew many things that the north relied on. At the time textiles was a big thing. Not too many places could grow cotton to make clothes. The UK had to rely on india for Textile production, this had to be shipped from Asia back to Europe. Which is also time consuming and expensive, this was also a time when ships were either relying on sail, or a very primitive steam engine. So all the cotton and tobacco grown in the south is sent up north to be processed in the northern factories. While acknowledging that slavery was wrong, the North still relied on it for textile production and the processing of tobacco for smoking.
The North also followed the fugitive slave act, bounty hunters and northern policemen were often used for capturing escaped slaves. During the war under the emancipation, the government would free any slaves that Union troops came across. However this only applied to slaves found in the confederate states. The few states that remained neutral and then later joined the war basically got to keep their slaves for the duration for the war. This was done to keep them happy and stay in the union.
However in school we talk about the evil south, but hardly how the North was hypocrite and turned a blind eye to its few slave holding allies and relied on child labor and southern goods to support its industry.
