Causes of the War

1. Slavery-



Slavery started in the United States in Virginia in 1619. By the end of the American Revolution,northern states had deserted the institution. However, slavery continued to grow and flourish in the south. In they ears prior to the Civil War, almost all sectional conflicts revolved around the slave issue, hence slavery is a major factor which led to the Civil War.

2.Control Of The Government-

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, Southern politicians sought to defend slavery by retaining control of the federal government. However, they were concerned about the balance of power within in the the Senate.

3.Two Regions on Separate Paths-
The widening of the gap between slave and free states was symbolic changes occurring in each region. The South was devoted to an agrarian plantation economy with a slow growth of population while the North had embraced industrialization, large urban areas, infrastructure growth and was experiencing high birth rates and a large influx of European immigrants. This deterred the Southerners from trying to maintain balance in the government as there was a high chance of more free states joining in the future and the election of a Northern, potentially anti-slavery president.

4. Bleeding Kansas-

Douglas, who was an ardent believer in grassroots democracy, felt that all the territories should be subject to popular sovereignty, which led to an influx of pro- and anti-slavery forces into Kansas. They engaged in open violence of three years. This heightened tensions between North and South.

5. States' Right-

The South realized that their control of the government was slipping away and hence turned to a states' rights argument to protect slavery. They claimed that the federal government was prohibited by the Tenth Amendment from impinging upon the right of slaveholders take their "property" into a new territory. They also stated that the federal government was not allowed to intervene with slavery which had already existed in the states.

6. Abolitionism

In the 1820s and 1830s, the issue of slavery was further heighted by the rise of the Abolitionist movement. Adherents believed that slavery was morally wrong. Some though that slaves should be freed imeediately; some called for gradual emancipation while some just wanted to stop the spread of slavery and its influence.

7. Election of 1860-

Abraham Lincoln won the North Election, Breckinridge won the South while John C. Bell won the border states. Douglas claimed Missouri and part of New Jersey. The North had accomplished what the South had always feared, which was the complete control of the goverment by the free states.

8. Secession Begins-

In response to Lincoln's victory, South Carolina opened a convention to discuss seceding from the Union. On December 24, 1860, it seceded and left the Union. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Lousiana and Texas followed soon after.

There were many reasons which led to the Civil War.

There was no one to blame, events just took place at its own course and soon the war was inevitable.