There were definitely other issues, each leading back to slavery.

wausaubob

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1. Disposition of the western lands. An enormous issue based on what had already happened to the lands of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Muskogee, and Chickasaw Indians. The Republicans were going to dispose of much of the land as fast as they could, if they got the chance.
2. The location of the national railroad. This was not such a big issue, because completion of the railroad was only aspirational. And the population density to justify the expense did not yet exist. It seems bigger looking backwards, because it was built. But even by 1862, it was just something the Republicans were willing to start, thinking the initial companies would be insolvent long before the railroad made much progress.
3. The elimination of the state bank currencies was an enormous issue. The creation of a national currency had been long delayed, but with railroad travel and telegraph wires creating a physical common market, there had to be one currency. And the reserve standards of the east coast banks, from Virginia, north and eastward, were going to enforced.
4. Tariffs get debated a lot, but it was actually a minor issue. The tariff was mostly an excise tax on luxuries and manufactured goods like pig iron. Since there was not another major funding mechanism for the federal government, there had to be some tariffs on imports. Which items would taxed and how the tax would be, is a legislative issue. Its not something to get killed over. Because the Confederates were going to have some tax mechanism too, if they survived as a permanent government.
 
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