Stop saying it was just about returning escaped slaves. There were many, many factors involved. Lincoln ran on a platform that included banning slavery in new states. The South was unhappy about that. Until then they had all sorts of compromises where new states were split between slave states and free states. They knew the balance of power was slipping away from them. It wasn’t just about one thing, but all of the factors involved slavery.
Stop saying it was just about returning escaped slaves. There were many, many factors involved. Lincoln ran on a platform that included banning slavery in new states. The South was unhappy about that. Until then they had all sorts of compromises where new states were split between slave states and free states. They knew the balance of power was slipping away from them. It wasn’t just about one thing, but all of the factors involved slavery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_leading_to_the_American_Civil_War