Where did the south fight for in the US civil war?

More than anything, the South, or the Confederacy, fought for a way of life. Slavery was the lifeblood of the southern economy though not all southerners were slave holders. There were slave holders in the North as well but they for the most part didn't represent an economic necessity. And they fought for freedom in relation to states rights as opposed to overt control by "a" federal government, making their primary loyalty to their individual states. For the purposes of war they formed the Confederacy. Slavery dictated the economy, the economy allowed for a certain way of life which they believed was not to be dictated by the government in Washington True individualism tainted by the presence of slavery. They fought for their families, their homes, their towns, their counties, their states, and their rights as they believed them to be. Putting slavery aside, they really fought for their own freedom as they believed it to be.