Abraham Lincoln

Butthurt?
BTW, the South attacked the North first.

His generals told him that resupplying Fort Sumter was an act of war. Which is EXACTLY why he insisted on doing it, while refusing all peace delegations. You should read actual history instead of just the parts you were told.

I'm talking about attacking. The confederacy bit off more than it could chew.

Maybe, but that doesn't absolve Lincoln of his malicious intent or the deaths of 750,000 Americans. He wanted a war, he got it. Lincoln bit off a lot more resistence than he thought. He thought it would all be over in a few months.

I know Abe wasn't perfect or anything like that, but I don't believe he went into the Civil War thinking, "I want the South to be slaughtered!"
He actually was very forgiving after the War ended. John Wilkes Booth thought he could help the South by killing Lincoln, but he actually made things worse. :|

Nonetheless, he could have avoided this costly war and if was half as great as people claim, he could have negotiated individual states back into the union while helping bring about a peaceful end to slavery using intelligent use of tariffs, communication and enticements. His willingness to do it peacefully only lasted a few months and he refused to look at the long game. He wanted what he wanted and he wanted it now. Presidency of all of America, not part of it. It had nothing to do with ending slavery for him.

I honestly doubt the conflict could have been settled without war, but we really can't know for sure since we can't see what would have happened had a more prominent attempt at peaceful negotiations been made.
Anyway, if history had gone differently, we wouldn't be here to debate about it. :D

War can be avoided simply by agreeing not to resolve anything. I just think the shit the teach in school is offensively one-sided. Sounds nice. But it's wrong and teaching children things that are wrong is immoral.