Did the North oppose slavery because they thought it was morally wrong, or because they did not want to see black people.?

There were lots of ideas on how to end slavery.. and it's true some anti slavery folks did favor sending freed slaves back to africa. This is how the state of Liberia was formed.. as an african home for freed American slaves. However that was a minority view.

There were a strong abolitionist movement in the north which wanted to abolish slavery because it was morally wrong. The Republican party was founded to represent their interests because they were such a popular strong ideology... John Brown who had taken Harper ferry and was hung for killing innocents prior to the civil war was one such abolitionist who favored war and had backings from prominent new England families.

However.. Lincoln was not one of them. Lincoln was pragmatic and understood what the south understood. The pro slave equilibrium in the Senate had been broken. Thus it was only a matter of time before slavery ended across the land. The South couldn't defend it anylonger. That's why the South boycotted the election of 1860 and why Lincoln was prepared to allow slavery to exist during his administration if it meant he could avoid a civil war.

What Lincoln could not compromise on however was succession. The founding fathers from both North and South had warned those that came after them in the Federalist Papers, that if succession occurred the United States was in for 1000 years of warfare, as Europe had experienced. Succession was to be avoided at all cost.. even the cost of a bloody civil war.

That was Lincoln's motivation..

I think the average northern fought not to free the slaves but to restrain and punish the south.. ultimately Lincoln sold the 14th amendment to the constitution to his citizenry as something which would hurt the south's war effort and shorten the war. That wasn't true however.. it was politics. Lincoln had already signed the emancipation proclamation. But that was just an executive order. Lincoln feared that when the war ended the next president might recind his executive order, or the supreme court might find in peacetime his order had no legal standing.. ( Lincoln had granted himself broad powers to fight the war none of which had stood up to judiciary scrutiny ).. So Lincoln who would have allowed slavery to continue for a time, if he could have avoided a bloody civil war, now that he had been forced to fight one wanted to make sure Slavery ended and did all he could to move congress towards that end and pass the 14th amendment before the civil war ended, and all the southern senators and congressmen were reseated in the legislative chambers.

Most of the Northern people opposed slavery on the grounds that it violated the right to life and the right to freedom since slaves were born in the United States and were not considered human beings but private property of the owners. Slave masters can whip and abuse the slaves all they like without facing major repercussions and this kept in the slaves in fear with little to no way out into the world where they can exercise your rights all you want. However, that is said, there was plenty of racism in the North, as well as in the South. But the overall attitude of the North, thanks to the large-scale industrialization and renovation of urban areas, caused them to turn swift against the inhumane and outdated practice of slavery practiced and condoned in the South. After all, this is the reason why slaves escaped to the North in search for freedom and opportunity.

MOST of northerners thought slavery was just wrong. SOME didn't want to see black people, but never considered that they'd have to look at them if they weren't slaves, and maybe if they were. MANY slaves were kept like house pets and were often sent on errands, so could be seen walking 'freely' through town. They wouldn't have money on them; shopkeepers would bill the owners.

They were not opposed to slavery lincoln just abolished it to get Briton to fund and trade with the north instead of the south. Look it up do some research. The civil war was about states rights.