What do you believe was the MAIN reason for the U.S. Civil War?

Answer 1

It was about State's rights. Heck read the Confederate Constitution, which you can find online, and the few differences make the point. They wanted the States to have the power and a weak Federal system. Heck they banned importing any more slaves, for those who buy into the slavery issue. That was an issue used by Lincoln because the French and English had recently banned slavery and didn't want to be seen supporting it. So by "freeing" the slaves in the REBEL States(read the Emancipation Proclamation and you will see the exact wording is in the REBEL States or territories whichever was used, and not ALL Slaves) he kept the French and British from supporting the C.S.A. Even on the point of Slavery the South felt they should be allowed to have them, and most of the North didn't understand the plantation live and didn't understand the need for them. Some in the North DID have Slaves though, including Grant who had slaves DURING the war. The South felt that because the North had a different Atmosphere they didn't understand the South and the two shouldn't be making choices for each other. The South had the right idea.

Answer 2

Good Question. You will receive hot debate on this one.
We have just spent six weeks in grad school (at a southern university) discussing the cause(s) of the war and whether it was inevitable.
The answer is that it was clearly about State's Rights - the Right of the States to HAVE SLAVERY. It was slavery, slavery, and slavery that was the root cause. The South would not give it up, and the North (especially New England righteous puritan types) would not accept this. Neither side was willing to compromise any further - after compromises in 1820 over Missouri, in 1850 over territory added after the Mexican War, and further in the mid 1850s over Kansas and Nebraska. Both sides were wrong in my opinion. It was not necessary for 600,000 young men to die (mostly from diseases picked up in crowded army camps). The US spent over 4 billion dollars on the war and killed or maimed a generation of young men. The money could have been used to compensate the small percentage of men who actually owned slaves in the South - buy their freedom. But of course then the question would be "where would the four million freed African Americans live?" Southerners were concerned or even afraid that the freed slaves would be rather angry with their former masters, and in many areas of the South the slaves had outnumbered the white Americans.
The current thinking in the academic history community is that slavery was the main cause. Slavery is simply wrong. After the war, the South realized that the cause of slavery could not be morally defended in world opinion, so the cry became "state's rights" as the cause of the war.
Added Note - I must agree with JS (below) that people are not property like cows and mules. How can anyone defend that people are just animals in this day and age.
Heck, I don't even consider my animals property.
The cats and dogs that I have rescued from the Humane society or Animal Control own me!

Answer 3

The main reason for the U.S. Civil War was -- Southern Aggression.

Yawns at all those who keep denying the role slavery played...

Here's the Constitution, and take note:

"The Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states, and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any state of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves SHALL NOT BE IMPAIRED.

NO slave or other person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs, or to whom such service or may be due."

The Slave States created a Constitution that stated:

SLAVES ARE NOT CITIZENS, THEY ARE PROPERTY. ONCE A SLAVE - ALWAYS A SLAVE.
EVEN IF A SLAVE ESCAPES OR IS LAWFULLY TAKEN AWAY - THEY WILL BE RETURNED TO THEIR "OWNERS."

I do not call this "the right idea."

Answer 4

States' rights.

Answer 5

So that African Americans wouldn't have to pick cotton anymore, so they could sell drugs, join gangs, and rap.