The South wouldn't have just rid themselves of slavery on their own. Their entire economy was built on the backs of black slaves. Their economic system wouldn't have survived without all the free labor of the exploited slaves. The South fought an incredibly bloody war against brothers over their "rights" to own other humans, and work them to the brink of death (or all the way to death). War is never a great option, and if the south didn't truly care about slaves, or if slavery was on its way out, they wouldn't have fought such a war in order to keep their slaves for the free labor to keep propping up their agrarian economy.