What started or caused the American Civil War?

Question

Is it just one big reason or are there many reasons that caused
the U.S. Civil War? Thank you.

Answer 1

Thanks for the question!

Causes of the American Civil War: A Summary

There were a series of significant events which greatly affected States' Rights, the Union, African Americans and accelerated the American Civil War. These historical events are commonly referred to as the "Causes of the American Civil War" and are listed without significant order:

States' Rights (Bill of Rights and the 10th Amendment), High Tariffs, Nullification Crisis, Missouri Compromise, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Manifest Destiny, Dred Scott Case, Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, Crittenden Compromise, John Brown, and President Abraham Lincoln's election (Lincoln didn't receive a single Southern electoral vote).

http://thomaslegion.net/causes.html

Answer 2

It was caused by the issues over the dispute of slavery. Decades before the Civil War, the South's economy was mostly based on slave labotr doing the work in the plantations. If you remove slavery, then the Southern economy would go down. The South tried to extend control, and into which slavery would be extended into other parts of the USA, The more valuable it would, it made their existing slaves and the entire plantation based economy that sustained the south. Why ELSE do you think that the south was so anxious to undo the Missouri Compromise, as they pressed for? Why ELSE do you think that there was pressure (and plans) in the South to invade and annex Cuba and Nicaragua in the 1850's? And why ELSE do you think that, with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas became "Bleeding Kansas" and a rehearsal for the armed conflict of the Civil War. Slaves were a significant capital asset (no pun intended), and the South was well aware that their enormous investment in slaves was not just connected to their individual slaves but the system of slavery as a whole. After Lincoln was elected in 1860, many feared that he would introduced legislation to bann slavery and since they were more free than slave state so the South seceded. The South wrote the Declaration of Immediate Cause said that slavery was the main reason why they left the Union.

Answer 3

What caused or started the American Civil War?
Three big reasons :
1. The Free Trade Policy
2. The Advocacy of Slavery
3. The Doctrine of State Sovereignty and Supremacy

Read Samuel M. Schmucker's 'The History of the Civil War in the United States' (1865), it offers real information, and not any biased opinions about the North "invading" Fort Sumter.

Answer 4

There had always been big differences between the North and the South. The South said they would secede from the Union if Lincoln became president. Lincoln became president and the South seceded.The North went to war with the South to preserve the Union. Harriet Beecher Stowe's fictitious book, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" has been given a lot of credit for starting the war because it further fired up Northern sentiment against slavery.

Answer 5

The civil war was fought over states rights. The State of South Carolina seceded from the union when Abraham Lincoln took office because they knew he was going to impose a prohibition on slavery. Other states joined quickly. The war was fought over states rights vs federal government powers over the states. The south felt the federal government could not tell them how to conduct business inside there state and what the law would be in their respective state. The federal government and the Northern states felt the Federal government was superior and could in fact direct the law of the land. The Union won the war and proved that the federal government was in fact the superior government between the two. Therefore, we now know and believe that federal law is the law of the land and state law has to conform to that.

Answer 6

Slavery was way down on the list of reasons the South seceded from the Union. States rights were a major factor. The South had an agrarian base and the North had the industrial base. The south actually had the better generals, but little industrial resources to give them the necessary tools to fight.

Answer 7

You could say either that the Southern Countries declared themself their own country or what lead up to it, the division on just about every issue possible from slavery to trade to military and so on.

Answer 8

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WAS TAXING TO HELL ALL OF THE SOUTHS GOODS(COTTON) THAT WENT OVER SEAS WITH NO END IN SIGHT ,THE SOUTH HAD NO WAY OUT-SPLIT!!!!!!!

Answer 9

Tariffs, sectionalism, and Slavery.

Answer 10

It was started when Union forces invaded and occupied Fort Sumter.