Foreword: I am not sure of the validity of my sources as 100% factual, I address this due to bits and pieces I have picked up in school. I am a sophomore in college pursuing a history degree, these points I brought up from memory, only using the sources to get the finer details of the points because I cannot recall all details from memory.

It seems a taboo question, whether the south seceded from the north due to slavery or some other factor. Simply talking about other possible causes or inconsistencies in this narrative gets one labeled as racist.

For example, the import tariffs that were crippling the southern economy. Raw materials for the factories from foreign markets had no import tariffs yet large tariffs(up to 40%) were placed for any processed imports that southerners may have wanted to buy. So, if a southerner wanted to buy a shirt he would have spent more than a northerner whether he bought it from the north or from Europe.

The taxes makes sense of why the entire south would have supported it, as only 4% of southerners actually owned slaves, however, the taxes would have effected all southerners. So, it seems like taxes would have made a larger impact on the general population of the south than slavery. source 1

Also, it seems Abraham Lincoln wasn't actually pushing to free slaves, I had one teacher(who clearly hasn't learned much about history) back in high school who said the south broke from the north because Lincoln was elected on a platform of freeing the slaves. Yet Lincoln position seems to be that while he did not support slavery, he felt that it should not be abolished unless it is agreed upon by the inhabitants of that state. He even stated during the war that the war was over taxes and made an offer to the southern states that any who returned to the union could keep their slaves. And as you know, the emancipation proclamation, what many believe to be the act that freed every slave, hardly freed anyone. source 2 source 3

I am unable to find a source for this, but I also heard that slavery wasn't as popular for your average southern as people think, because it was difficult to compete for jobs with a worker who did not need to be paid.

There was also the factor against the north leading a crusade to fight for slave freedom in that northerners were just as racist as southerners. With severe discriminatory laws against blacks, it seems unlikely that they would be ready to fight and die to free a black man. source 4

So, it appears at a glance that there is a case for saying that the southern secession was due more to taxes than an imminent threat to slavery from the north. Is this in fact the case?