I see your point. Thing is though that the South does have a lot that is appealing about it in some ways : it's not like Nazi Germany where you can fairly easily slot the whole 'side' neatly into the 'bad guys' niche.

If the South had not been, (or, had not believed that their society was) dependent economically on slavery, then what? I dunno. It is a question that is strangely appealing to ask, even though it does take a HUGE element out. For that matter, if the South had not seceded, then the war would not have happened, and nor would abolition, so presumably at some point, the South would have had to tackle the whole slavery issue internally... Hmmmm.