What were they fighting about in the american civil war?

Answer 1

The conflict between the North and the South revolved about the owning of slaves, selling and buying them. The North was against slavery. The President Abraham Lincoln wanted to emancipate all slaves, the owners of large Plantations wanted to keep their slaves.
After the North won, the North treated the slaves very badly, in some areas there life became much worse, they lived in poverty and were exploited. They did not receive equal treatment. They were free to be poor and abused again.

Answer 2

It was about state's rights.

you have to realize there was two trains of though about politics at the time.

One was that there should be a centralized government with ultimate control of the law with secondary rights to the states. Like what we have now, States can make laws, so long as the State laws do not supersede Federal laws. for example, If Slavery was outlawed on a federal level no state's law could over turn that law to make it legal in that particular state. This also went in to Taxes and income revenue, The federal government took a share of taxes that would have gone to the state.

The other train of thought was that State's should have the right to determine their over all laws and taxes, the Federal government was there as a way to facilitate trade and resolve disputes. Government would not be centralized, each state would essentially be ultimately responsible for it's own trade, money, future and destiny, if you will.

Slavery was a hot button topic but it was only part of the issue, not nearly the whole issue which included taxation and self governance.

In fact it is pretty safe to say as industrialization improved, slavery began to die off. Machines were starting to do the job of Slaves and were more efficient and cheaper. Eventually Slavery would have died on it's own, Granted life as we know it would have been altered, the Civil rights movement would have probably been delayed twenty to thirty years.

Best of Luck

Answer 3

When the Civil War began, neither civil rights nor voting rights for blacks were stated as goals by the North; they became important afterward during Reconstruction. At first, though there was pressure to do so, not even the abolition of slavery was stated as a goal. According to McPherson, while controversy over the morality of slavery could be contained, it was the issue of the expansion of slavery into the territories that made the conflict irrepressible. Slavery was at the root of economic, moral and political differences that led to control issues, states' rights and secession of seven states. The secession of four more states was a protest against Lincoln's call to invade (from the Southern point of view) the South.

Answer 4

Secession
The Civil War was a fight to preserve the Union which was the United States of America. From the conception of the Constitution, there were two differing opinions on the role of the federal government. Federalists believed that the federal government and the executive needed to maintain their power in order to insure the survival of the union. On the other hand, anti-federalists held that states should retain much of their sovereignty within the new nation. Basically that each state should have the right to determine the laws within its own borders and should not be forced to follow the mandates of the federal government unless absolutely necessary.

Answer 5

It all comes down to the the South wanting to secede from the union (country) in order to preserve slavery. The North, driven by an abhorrence of slavery, but perhaps also by economic concerns, fought to keep the South within the union, but without the institution of slavery. There are some who claim that it was a war over whether states rights or federal law should have primacy; the South believed that states should have primacy, such as individual states having the right to preserve slavery. Whether one views the war as based on economics or rights - it all comes down to slavery. The South had an economy based on slave labor - the North did not. The South had state laws allowing slavery, the North did not. To see that the economic and states rights issues all really boiled down to slavery, look up info on the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854.

Though Lincoln strongly opposed slavery, he was more concerned with keeping the country together. Some believe he would have prefered the South to remain in the union, even with slavery - at least in the short term.

Answer 6

the south viewed the north was an oppressor...and they wanted to split with the country, especially over the views of slavery...the north on the other hand, under lincoln, mainly wanted to reunite the country. He believed that a union could not survive if it was divided...the ending of slavery was an outcome of the civil war...but it was not the major cause of the north.

Answer 7

One of the largest misconceptions in US history is that the civil war was fought over slavery. In truth, it began as an argument over whether state laws or federal laws were sovereign (although slavery was a catalyst). It was a fundamental issue of whether government should be centralized, or left to each state to rule on their own, with limited federal government intervention. In slave states (those who seceeded the union - the confederacy), the main argument was that the states had the right to set their own laws, and govern as they please (thereby justifying the right to continue slavery). Lincoln's main goal was to keep all of the states united, and he believed that the federal government had an obligation to preserve the nation at all costs. Many people erroneously believe that his main goal was freeing slaves (although he was VERY instrumental in doing so later in the war). Lincoln did not support or like slavery, but his conviction of preserving the Union came first.

It was a true test of the Constitution, and the American system of government. There were many issues involved, but it all boiled down to a question of government and who had what rights.

Let me also point out that Jefferson Davis' innaugural address did not focus on slavery, but rather states' rights. The CSA constitution did establish laws regarding slavery, and did not deal with states rights, but it was the their belief in the right to self-govern that directly led to secession.

And, part of the reason why the CSA ultimately lost the war was due to states' rights - each state continued to want to set their own laws, and the central government had a difficult time coordinating each of the states. The very thing they argued for is part of what tore it apart.

Answer 8

The North fought initially to preserve the union. The south fought to prevent what they saw as continued encroachment against their rights as states. Only later in the war did slavery become a major factor. Read the emancipation proclomation carefully and you'll see that not all salves were freed by it.

Answer 9

There were many issues which brought on the Civil War. Probably the most pronounced was the argument over States' Rights versus Federal Rights.

Answer 10

A states rights and powers vs federal rights and powers. Slavery was secondary, but became primary since the majority of the country was against it anyway.

As the president he could have abolished slavery anytime he wanted. He never asked for the abolishment of it anyway. He proclaimed it to over, which technically means nothing.