i know what you mean. i grew up in the south (my family has lived in florida since before statehood) and now i'm in boring, backwards indiana. i HATE talking about the civil war, because the teachers always say "the civil war was about slavery and it was the south's fault."
WARNING: HISTORY RANT AHEAD
Why did we fight the revolutionary war? Because our overseas "landlords" (if you will) needed a way to fund their colonies so they imposed unfair taxes (the Stamp Act and the like). So we revolt in the Revolutionary War and declare that we would never again have "taxation without representation". Then we get this crazy idea about manifest destiny, start various wars (such as the war with Mexico) and soon realize we need funds. So the North, almost exclusively industrial, imposes heavy agricultural tariffs. Who controls the agriculture? The South! So here is the South, struggling to industrialize, trying to get a stable enough agriculture to no longer need slaves, and what happens? Unfair taxation. Why did we fight the Revolutionary War? Unfair taxation.
So here is the South, being choked to death by the very thing they fought to overcome. They decide that the Consititution (being viewed as a contract between the States) has been violated and therefore is no longer valid. Since there is no longer a valid Constitution, there is no longer a "United" States of America. So the South leaves the alliance with the other states in order to save itself from the unfair taxation. The North thinks, "Shoot! They left!" and starts attacking the South. Hence, the Civil War.
My point is this: the South was in the right, and the Civil War was NOT about slavery.
On one test, our teacher asked us "The Civil War was caused by what?" One of the answers was slavery. Another was taxation. She claimed it was slavery, and i knew that's what she had as the right answer. I put taxation. I cannot bring myself to succumb to this yankee propaganda!
*whew* i'm done. my bad for typing such a long comment. it just ticks me off when teachers don't know what they're talking about.