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1) No, not the purpose, but it was the primary factor that led to secession and consequently the war.
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You probably need to read some more history.
If this were true, then slavery would have been outlawed in the US as soon as the states that were supposedly blocking such legislation seceeded.
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1a) Not sure where you are getting that slavery wasn't outlawed in the north, but I believe many northern states had abolished slavery prior to the war.
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Yes, many had. But not all.
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2) Nothing was so special about that specific time, but that was when it happened so I was considering the possibliity that slavery could have been abolished then without armed conflict. I guess if Lincoln would have been ok with those original states leaving then technically abolition would have been accompished peacefully in the US. As far as would it still have existed today in either the US or CS, I really have no clue. You probably want me to say that it wouldn't, and I think you would be right. The chances of it still existing today are slim. Then I would guess that would lead to a cost/ benefit analysis of some sort between lives lost in the civil war to lives lost had slavery been abolished at some later date. It would probably be much better from a pure numbers standpoint had the war not occured, but I don't know how many african americans would agree that they would be better off today.
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Wow. I'd really like to see this cost/benefit analysis. How much are you going to value each life at?
How much better off do you need to make some person 150 years from now to justify killing someone today?
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2b) That goes back to that whole cost/benefit analysis. I'm not sure, and I'm tired from studying right now so I can't come up with a decent answer.
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I'll wait.