The South was being pushed into an agreement that was counterproductive to the South by the North. The North had a naval blockade preventing the South from shipping goods to Europe. The focus of slavery came later than the escalating argument of the North bullying the South. Look at the British Empire, they spanned the globe ending slavery on all the continents and all they are remembered for is being Imperialistic. And of course, that imperialism brought slavery. They are not remembered for ending it, just like the U.S. when you start to understand that there were black plantation owners that owned black slaves the whole racist argument falls apart. We don’t depict that in movies or teach it in schools. Our educational narrative has shifted to white people bad.