I remember seeing Paul on some talk show in which he ranted that the slavery would eventually wear itself out and thus the Civil War was unnecessary.
Of course, this follows the “blame Lincoln” meme of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The fact of the matter is the pro-slavery contingent depended on expansion in order to survive. They favored the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Cuba in order to secure Senate seats. In fact, that was Lincoln’s intent. He wanted to halt the spread of slavery into the Territories and Northern States so that it would die out.
(There is a bit of cause-effect problem, though. Why did the South secede? Because Lincoln was elected President. Therefore, Lincoln “caused” the Civil War. It didn’t matter if he didn’t have the power to actually do anything.)
