What were the causes of the US Civil War?

Answer

The secession of the South actually started the Civil War. The South wanted Slavery to be legal while the main percent of those living in the North did not.

Answer

The Civil War was not fought becuase of slavery. Slavery only became an issue after the Emancipation Proclamation, although some people in the North were pushing for war to stop slavery.

The was fought because the North did not think that the Southern states were allowed to seceed.

I fully agree with that, however, it can be argued that the war was fought because of slavery. Why did the southern states want to secede? Because they felt that they should have powerful states rights and a less powerful central govt that threatens slavery, and there for the southern economy and way of life. The Crittenden-Johnston Resolution stated that the war was being fought not to interfere with the southern way of life, but to keep the union together.

You could also include tariffs because, the south hated the tariffs because it hurt their economy but the North loved them because they protected their industries. Also Abraham Lincoln wasn't exactly liked by the south, given that he didn't even show up on the ballot in a couple states in the south.

Whoever wins the war, gets to write the history. So of course, the North did their best to think of an excuse for their onslaught on the South. The North was completely dependent on the South for their agriculture. Many Southerners didn't have slaves, in fact, Robert E. Lee didn't even own any. Lincoln claimed that any man would be convicted of treason. How is this so, when secession is a Constitutional right? When England and France found out about this, they were planning to come to the aid of the Southern states. If this had happened, no doubt the South would have won the War. To prevent this from happening, Lincoln had to think of some excuse-- slavery. This is when he decided to issue his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves in the Southern states. He had no right to do this, seeing as the states had already seceded, the slaves didn't belong to him. As it turned out, his Proclamation didn't free the slaves at all; it was not until the 13th Amendment that the slavery was abolished. Lincoln knew how important slaves were to maintain the South's agricultural industry, that's why he vowed in his 1861 inaugural address to protect the institution of slavery. Lincoln didn't even care about the slaves. When Union General Fremont freed the slave in the district he was commanding in Missouri, Lincoln fired Fremont, immediately re-enslaved the freedmen, and sent them back to their masters. So, why would he care if people had slaves, when as president, he was sending freed slaves back to their masters? When he imposed the Morrill Tariff on the Southern states, that was the last straw for them. Of course, the South didn't like him. He was neither fair nor just to the Southern states. As I said before, it is our Constitutional right to secede from the Union. It states this in the 10th Amendment of the Constitution. The South went to war to protect their rights. It had NOTHING to do with slavery. It was essential to the Union that the South remain with them, because of their benefits to the country. Then I could go on about how Lincoln destroyed the Constitution, made over 13,000 arbitrary arrests for people questioning as to why they were at war, shut down newspapers for questioning him, had the Chief Justice (Taney) of the Supreme Court thrown in jail for asking Lincoln was dismissing the fact that he had to get Congressional approval for the decisions he was making, BUT that's not anything to do with the cause of the war. Those are just a few more facts that go to what kind of person he really was.

The civil war started over the fact that the north didn't want to move slavery to the west. When the constitution was written it said that it was okay to have slavery where it was. Lincoln didn't think that slavery was okay, but he also didn't want to upset the south by telling them they could no longer have slavery. So he agreed they could keep slavery where it was when the constitution was signed. That was one of many reasons that the civil war started!

**I would like to say that the fact that people are saying the Civil War was started over slavery was wrong. The initial goal was to preserve the Union. Lincoln wanted the South to not further sucede more.The issue of slavery was later on the goal of the Civil War. Lincoln clarified that with the Emancipation Proclamation. The issue of slavery growing westward was always an issue,going back to the Kansas-Nebraska Act.The initial goal was to preserve the union at first.

First answer by Imkrazie. Last edit by Mymomy. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question]