The civil war wasn't completely about slavery, but slavery did play a huge factor in those other reasons. The war was based on the Northern States' ability to use industry to make money without slaves while also wanting to free the slaves when Lincoln was elected. By freeing the slaves the Southern Markets would have collapsed since they were built on farming and the use of slaves. Therefore the South didn't feel that Lincoln was going to look out for the south the same way as the North. This also would have affected each state's rights in govt decision making.

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I'm not surprised that slavery was sugar-coated in history books and perhaps monuments were created for the wrong reasons. Slavery was a terrible thing, but this was the way the South sustained at that time. As a Virginian, I think that some of these men do deserve to be honored for contributions to the development of state's rights and not erased from history for owning slaves when that was the way of life at the time. In no way do I support slavery, but I hate seeing history erased. The story does need to be told correctly though.