how did the civil war start?

Answer 1

Your question is unclear are you asking what event was first and actually started the shooting or what was the War actually fought over? The first official military action was Fort Sumter while the cause of the war was money not slavery as some possess.

“and they [Yankees] are marked ... with such a perversity of character, as to constitute, from that circumstance, the natural division of our parties” Thomas Jefferson

In the 1770s, the South had every reason to continue the relationship with England, one of its best customers. It was the manufacturing North that was getting the short end of that stick. Southerners joined the Revolutionary War out of patriotism, idealism, and enlightened political philosophy such as motivated Jefferson, not patriotism, philosophy, and economic betterment which inspired the North.
In 1860, the shoe was on the other foot. Southern agrarians were at heel to the nation's bankers and industrialists. That just got worse with the election of the Republican Lincoln, bringing back into power the party favoring the wealthy supply side, as it still does.
Then as now central to that, party's interest was keeping down the cost of manufacture. Today labor is the big cost, so today they move the plants offshore and leave US workers to their fate. Back before the US labor movement existed the big cost was raw materials, and the GOP was just as unprincipled toward its Southern suppliers as it is today toward labor.
Thanks to modern graveyard science and surviving records, researchers know that in 1760, 100 years before the War Between the States, Charleston, South Carolina, had the largest population of slaves and we say proudly the second largest slave population was in New York City.
One of the main quarrels was about taxes paid on goods brought into this country from foreign countries. This tax was called a tariff. Southerners felt these tariffs were unfair and aimed toward them because they imported a wider variety of goods than most Northern people. Taxes were also placed on many Southern goods that were shipped to foreign countries, an expense that was not always applied to Northern goods of equal value. An awkward economic structure allowed states and private transportation companies to do this, which also affected Southern banks that found themselves paying higher interest rates on loans made with banks in the North. As industry in the North expanded, it looked towards southern markets, rich with cash from the lucrative agricultural business, to buy the North's manufactured goods. The situation grew worse after several "panics", including one in 1857 that affected more Northern banks than Southern. Southern financiers found themselves burdened with high payments just to save Northern banks that had suffered financial losses through poor investment. However, it was often cheaper for the South to purchase the goods abroad. In order to "protect" the northern industries Jackson slapped a tariff on many of the imported goods that could be manufactured in the North. When South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832, refusing to collect the tariff and threatening to withdraw from the Union, Jackson ordered federal troops to Charleston. A secession crisis was averted when Congress revised the Tariff of Abominations in February 1833. The Panic of 1837 and the ensuing depression began to gnaw like a hungry animal on the flesh of the American system. The disparity between northern and southern economies was exacerbated. Before and after the depression the economy of the South prospered. Southern cotton sold abroad totaled 57% of all American exports before the war. The Panic of 1857 devastated the North and left the South virtually untouched. The clash of a wealthy, agricultural South and a poorer, industrial North was intensified by abolitionists who were not above using class struggle to further their cause.
In the years before the Civil War the political power in the Federal government, centered in Washington, D.C., was changing. Northern and mid-western states were becoming more and more powerful as the populations increased. Southern states lost political power because the population did not increase as rapidly. As one portion of the nation grew larger than another, people began to talk of the nation as sections. This was called sectionalism. Just as the original thirteen colonies fought for their independence almost 100 years earlier, the Southern states felt a growing need for freedom from the central Federal authority in Washington. Southerners believed that state laws carried more weight than Federal laws, and they should abide by the state regulations first. This issue was called State's Rights and became a very warm topic in congress.

These are facts not emotions or unsupported claims, now what was the War over?
After reading these answers and listening to the implications I am ashamed to try to respond I'll be called a racist and a redneck all because I did not take the word of history books of the public school system and read. If you are asking about the Emancipation Proclamation it did nothing I swear nothing in fact. Lincoln was reluctant to issue an Emancipation Proclamation but you would have thought from what one is taught in class these days this was his primary concern. He issued the proclamation to save the Union making impossible for foreign Governments to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. Even though the English supported (indirectly) slavery, they like other countries were officially against the practice. By his actions, Lincoln was showing the US was against slavery but not the Confederacy. If like the leaders of these countries at the time, you took the time to read and study the act you would see it does nothing and in fact, Lincoln thought that the Afro American was not the equal of whites and his plan was to resettle the slaves in either the Amazon or Western Texas.

Most people are not aware that there was a series of action and even proclamations for instance Lincolns correspondence of October 14, 1862 to the military and civilian authorities of occupied Louisiana.

“Major General Butler, Governor Shepley, & and [sic] all having military and naval authority under the United States within the S[t]ate of Louisiana. The bearer of this, Hon. John E. Bouligny, a citizen of Louisiana, goes to the State seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace again upon the old terms under the constitution of the United States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the Congress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a legislature, State officers, and United States Senators friendly to their object. I shall be glad for you and each of you, to aid him and all others acting for this object, as much as possible. In all available ways, give the people a chance to express their wishes at these elections. Follow forms of law as far as convenient, but at all events get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how such action will connect with, and affect the proclamation of September 22nd. Of course, the men elected should be gentlemen of character willing to swear support to the Constitution, as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity. (CW 5:462-3, italics added).

NOTE: The italic show that Lincoln rather then issue an Emancipation Proclamation or free the slaves was still willing to allow the Southern States back into the Union. One will find this all the way up to the 1865 visit to Camp Lookout.

At the same time Lincoln was issuing the Emancipation Proclamation he was petitioning his cabinet to negotiate and appropriate funds to force the Blacks else where.
In the 1770s, the South had every reason to continue the relationship with England, one of its best customers. It was the manufacturing North that was getting the short end of that stick. Southerners joined the Revolutionary War out of patriotism, idealism, and enlightened political philosophy such as motivated Jefferson, not patriotism, philosophy, and economic betterment which inspired the North.
In 1860, the shoe was on the other foot. Southern agrarians were at heel to the nation's bankers and industrialists. That just got worse with the election of the Republican Lincoln, bringing back into power the party favoring the wealthy supply side, as it still does.
Then as now central to that, party's interest was keeping down the cost of manufacture. Today labor is the big cost, so today they move the plants offshore and leave US workers to their fate. Back before the US labor movement existed the big cost was raw materials, and the GOP was just as unprincipled toward its Southern suppliers as it is today toward labor.
Thanks to modern graveyard science and surviving records, researchers know that in 1760, 100 years before the War Between the States, Charleston, South Carolina, had the largest population of slaves and we say proudly the second largest slave population was in New York City.
One of the main quarrels was about taxes paid on goods brought into this country from foreign countries. This tax was called a tariff. Southerners felt these tariffs were unfair and aimed toward them because they imported a wider variety of goods than most Northern people. Taxes were also placed on many Southern goods that were shipped to foreign countries, an expense that was not always applied to Northern goods of equal value. An awkward economic structure allowed states and private transportation companies to do this, which also affected Southern banks that found themselves paying higher interest rates on loans made with banks in the North. As industry in the North expanded, it looked towards southern markets, rich with cash from the lucrative agricultural business, to buy the North's manufactured goods. The situation grew worse after several "panics", including one in 1857 that affected more Northern banks than Southern. Southern financiers found themselves burdened with high payments just to save Northern banks that had suffered financial losses through poor investment. However, it was often cheaper for the South to purchase the goods abroad. In order to "protect" the northern industries Jackson slapped a tariff on many of the imported goods that could be manufactured in the North. When South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification in November 1832, refusing to collect the tariff and threatening to withdraw from the Union, Jackson ordered federal troops to Charleston. A secession crisis was averted when Congress revised the Tariff of Abominations in February 1833. The Panic of 1837 and the ensuing depression began to gnaw like a hungry animal on the flesh of the American system. The disparity between northern and southern economies was exacerbated. Before and after the depression the economy of the South prospered. Southern cotton sold abroad totaled 57% of all American exports before the war. The Panic of 1857 devastated the North and left the South virtually untouched. The clash of a wealthy, agricultural South and a poorer, industrial North was intensified by abolitionists who were not above using class struggle to further their cause.
In the years before the Civil War the political power in the Federal government, centered in Washington, D.C., was changing. Northern and mid-western states were becoming more and more powerful as the populations increased. Southern states lost political power because the population did not increase as rapidly. As one portion of the nation grew larger than another, people began to talk of the nation as sections. This was called sectionalism. Just as the original thirteen colonies fought for their independence almost 100 years earlier, the Southern states felt a growing need for freedom from the central Federal authority in Washington. Southerners believed that state laws carried more weight than Federal laws, and they should abide by the state regulations first. This issue was called State's Rights and became a very warm topic in congress.

These are facts not emotions or unsupported claims, now what was the War over?

In 1864, Jeff Davis and other Southerner leaders would contemplate outlawing slavery and probably would have if the opportunity had arisen.

So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I believe it will be greatly for the interest of the South. So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and have suffered all that I have suffered to have this object attained. May 1 1870

God Bless You and The Southern People.

Answer 2

The Confederate constitution is almost a duplicate of the United States Constitution except for a few changes. But I’m only going to cite the slavery portion of the Confederate Constitution. The Confederate Constitution included a states rights provision. Slavery was “recognized and protected” in the Confederate States, but importing slaves “from any foreign country other than the slave-holding States or Territories of the United States of America” was prohibited. Otherwords the Slaves that were in the US were the only slaves allowed in both the Union and the Confederacy. President Lincoln never did propose any federal laws prohibiting slavery in the Union neither. Now ,although this is off subject, I want to go a little deeper into the Civil War and the reasons why it started. The Confederacy had an understanding that anything within its borders was its property. This includesd Fort Sumter. The Union would not give this fort up so therefore the Confederacy would take it over by force. Although the Confederacy threw the first stone it was for a justifiable reason (at least in my eyes). Now by this time the Confederacy was doing rather well on their own, even though they had financial troubles. They established their own exports and imports along with their own taxing system. They also had their government established with all three branches of government. They were doing rather well until the Union started their blockade on the Confederacy and later proclaimed war. This is as far as I’ll go because most people have knowledge of all the battles of the war and the end result. But in my eyes the Confederacy was minding their own business and trying to get what was theirs when the Union started the war. The Unions main reason for starting the war was because they found it “illegal” to succeed from the Union. Now granted there is a law against that but it is when the law was made that makes the whole basis for the Union’s reason of war contradictory. This succession law was not passed until 1861. The Confederacy was established in 1860-1861. There proves that the Union was looking for a reason to start the war because the Confederacy had already started to succeed before the law was passed. Now with this being said I am going to turn to the “Confederate Flag” and its true meaning. The Navy Jack flag, which is erroneously known as the Confederate Flag, does not stand for racism. The thought of racism or support for slavery related to the Navy Jack Flag did not come about until the Civil Rights movement nearly a century after the Civil war. The Navy Jack Flag politically stands for rebellion, patriotism, self-determination, dissent, freedom and liberty. The Navy Jack Flag can also be seen as a flag of treason, which is one of many similarity between the American Flag (during the revolutionary war) and the Navy Jack Flag. The American Flag stands for a lot of the same things the Navy Jack Flag stands for. Racism was just as much part of the North as it was the South. Now I did not fabricate any of this. I took it straight out of the encyclopedia and I researched this for 2 hours. Feel free to do research yourself. posted on October 24, 2006 10:42 AM ()

Answer 3

The Civil War started long before Ft Sumter fell. The primary cause of the Civil War was over States Rights. Slavery was an add-on cause. If left alone, the South would have realized that slavery needed to end. What the southerners did not want or need was to have someone else tell them what right and wrong. The North also had a form of slavery that they were perfectly fine with. Indentured Servants.

Answer 4

The civil war was a diplomatic war until Fort Sumter in April 1861. Abraham Lincoln wanted to keep the Union together. When he came into office in early March, the Deep South states had already seceded from the Union during James Buchanan's lame duck period (From the end of the election to Lincoln's inaugration. Reason now it is only 6 weeks.)

The South believed that Lincoln was going to abolish slavery altogether. Lincoln did not want slavery to expand outward. At this point, you had two economic systems vying for control of the country: the Northern industry and the Southern agricultural society. If the Northern industry won, then slavery would have lost out; while if the South's agricultural economy won, then the whole landscape of America would have change. This was seen through the Missouri Compromise and the Kansas Act of 1854. (can't remember off the top of my head.)

Being a great-grandson of the Confedracy, my grandmother always told me that the Civil War was not about Slavery, but about States Rights. Her father never owned slaves, but only fought because they were protecting their homes. That part is true, but it only comes down to "how do I maximize my money without changing?"

Answer 5

The southern forces (The Confederacy) attacked Fort Sumter, which was held by the Union Army (of the North). Located on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina.... April 12-13, 1861.

Answer 6

The aristocracy of the south decided they had the autonomous right to secede from the union and attacked federal facilities most notably Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC.

The main basis for the disagreement was the future of slavery in new states and territories.

Answer 7

Confederates sacked federal mints, succeeded from the union, etc. Lincoln was just waiting for an excuse to attack the south (fort sumter was it)

Answer 8

The North wanted to abolish slavery and had machines to do all the work.

Answer 9

It started when the Southern States decided they didn't want to be forced to follow laws adoped by the majority.