Myth: The American Civil War was all about slavery.

Fact: Although slavery was one of the major disagreements between the North and the South, those in the South were primarily fighting for their independence (most of them were too poor to own slaves anyway) and those in the North were fighting primarily to preserve the Union (most of them would never have risked their lives over the issue of slavery). Lincoln was very clear about this when he said "If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that."