Yes, I've always found these kind of statistics disappointing. Many people seem to support equal rights only to the extent that it doesn't inconvenience them too much./quote]
A perfectly rational (if unelevated) attitude.
Fortunately, once the war had been fought and won, people were committed to seeing that the benefit of the war was realized.
Er, which people exactly?
In 1865 the North had everything it fought for. No one was hunting down fugitives in their states, or forcing low tariffs on them, obstructing a transcontinental railroad, or obliging them to compete with slave labour if the chose to move west. Nor of course were they any longer trying to dismember the country. It scarcely mattered who governed the Southern states, or how they governed (or misgoverned) them, just so long as they didn''t give the North any hassle on these and similar issues.