The war was unequivocally about slavery.

The "it was states rights" claim is pretty bogus. It’s nothing more than a manner to get around stating that you support a side that wanted to work a whole race of people to death and didn't want to be put in the poor house if their property were giving equal rights with other men.

No matter what cause you want to claim started the war, States Rights, Economic Issues, they all boil down to Slavery. To deny Slavery is flat out intellectual dishonesty, that is not to say these other issues were not important (or in reality develop importance later through Southern rhetoric)

The importance that the institution of slavery played in the cause of the Civil War is indisputable when you look at what the leaders said.

Message of Jefferson Davis
Charles Joyner writes in Callaloo cal.1 (2001) 196-198

The Cause’ of the American Civil War , By: Spicer, John, History Review, 09629610, Sep2004, Issue 49

What do we have here? Davis, Stephens and Lincoln all recognizing that slavery was root cause of the civil war.

Robert E Lee and other prominent Southerners had already given up slavery. However, when it came to union troops needing to march across Virginia, it was clear most Virginians concept was their country was being invaded. Most of the working class Southerners that fought in that war did not own slaves and many had never seen an African before.

Slavery was undoubtedly a big issue for abolitionists and New England states.

There was a underlying power struggle against the agrarian based economy in the South and the industrial based economy in the North. The North was taking over power in the federal government.

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National Debt =

Consider the fact that Lincoln did not want to free slaves when he was elected. He and others at the time believed that freeing slaves all at once was a bad idea. Lincoln wanted to stop the spread of slavery to the territories and thus have it die out in the south. Lincoln was also a staunch Federal Government supporter. He believed that the central government should have more power than the states.

The south saw slavery as part of states rights, so while slavery was not the largest reason, it was part of it. The only reason why slavery became the big deal is because Lincoln freed the southern slaves Jan. 1, 1863. Then when the thirteenth amendment passed in 1865 slavery was abolished everywhere.

Four slave states do not secede from the union. If slavery had been the issue, they would have jumped ship, especially after the first two years of the war when the South looked like they would win. The Emancipation Proclemation, I think, was more of a motivational push for the north. If it was a "we are freeing slaves" document, it would have included the border states that sided with the union.

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Actually, most in the North wanted to end slavery for economic rather than moral reasons. So yes, it was partly about slavery.

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"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."



~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

which four states?

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Yes, it was about slavery, but that's not the same thing as saying that it was about ending slavery. That came later. Slavery was the central issue behind crystalizing sectionalist tensions from 1820-1860.

Tensions arose primarily because of the growth of Freesoil-ism and abolitionism in the North, which the South saw as a direct threat to the representational balance they had in Congress. Ever since the Compromise of 1820, the South used new states carved out of acquisitions as a way to extend its influence and maintain state-to-state balance.

With the acquisition of the Mexican Secession territory and popular sovereignty, this once again became a problem in the 1840s-50s. The movement to prevent the expansion of slavery into the new territories became a point of contention, expressed in Bleeding Kansas and the Compromise of 1850.

The South Feared Lincoln and despised the North because he opposed the expansion of slavery, and they associated the North with liberal abolitionists because their central bases were there in places like Boston, where there were vehement protests against the Fugitive Slave Code.

The South promised that, if Lincoln were to be elected, they would secede, and yes, they did, as soon as he won.

If you look at the Declarations of Secession, slavery is mentioned as the top reason for leaving the union in MOST of the documents. They outright admit it.

At one time, Lincoln did oppose ending slavery, because he felt it was at the time impractical; at one time, he also believed they would never be able to live side-by-side, again, because of impracticality. But with the Civil War, he had an unprecedented opportunity to carry it out once and for all as well as score political points with it in the North among freesoilers and abolitionists, who, due to the Civil War itself, were more anti-south.

Some slave states did not revolt, but that's not because the Civil War wasn't about slavery, it's because many of them were the border states nervous about seceding and right near Union Troops.

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Ok four and one-half...Mousouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware,and the NW part of Virginia (made a state in 1863 called West Virginia).

Kentucky also declared neutrality during the war althought the citizens fought for both sides.

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What Robert E Lee thought is irrelevant as he wasn't a politician of any sort prior to the War.

Slavery was a big issue for Abolitionists but abolitionist didn't have significant enough power in the legislature to hope of getting a outright ban on slavery. In effect the north never tried to have the south give up it's slave. The north tried to prevent the slavery from spreading but slavery as it existed in the future CSA was very safe.

The North took power of the Federal Government because the South had to many slaves and not enough white men eligible to vote. Slavery caused that.

The Confederates were idiots. I think we can all agree on that.

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"Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds."



~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anyone know how to use a search engine?
The Reasons for the Civil War

There were several reasons the Civil War began. The following facts will show explanations of how the Civil War occurred.

The areas of the United States had different economies. In the North, the economy was based on factories and wages. Everyday people worked in the factories. The South had large plantations, which grew cotton. The plantation owners needed the slaves to pick the cotton. They didn’t receive wages, but they were provided food and shelter. In the Midwest, wheat was the number one cash crop. It was harvested by a machine, so they didn’t need as many workers or slaves. These different economies caused divisions in the United States.

Also, new territories were being settled. The South wanted the new territories to be admitted to the Union as slave states. This was to prevent the slaves from escaping into free territories. The North wanted the new territories to be free. Some people thought the new territories should have the right to vote whether they wanted to be free or slave. This is called State’s Rights. An agreement was reached called the Compromise of 1850, which lasted for three years. In this compromise, fugitive slaves were ordered to return to their owners. The abolitionists thought that they shouldn’t have to follow that law.

Next, Abraham Lincoln said that slavery should be abolished. He was elected president and South Carolina immediately seceded from the Union. Then, six more states joined South Carolina and formed the Confederate States of America (CSA). The South felt that Lincoln would abolish slavery and take away their economy or their way of life. They also felt that each state had the right to vote on any law.

More people died in the Civil War than any other war. The reasons for the Civil War were different economies, state’s rights to vote on laws, and the election of Abraham Lincoln as president.





The civil war was fought over new states rights. Some states used slavery for their economy. The new territories were part slave and free. Abraham Lincoln did not believe in slavery. When Abraham Lincoln became president, the southern states seceded and the civil war began.



The Civil War started because of slavery, economy, and states rights. The north did not believe in slavery, but the south did. The north protested about slavery, but the confederates believed that slavery was good because they saved money by not paying the slaves. The northeast and mid-west regions had machinery and factories. The southeast region didn’t have those things, so they said and bought slaves. The whole nation started to fight over who would decide if the territories were with or without slavery. Finally, South Carolina, along with six other states decided to leave the United States. South Carolina had a fort called Fort Sumter. The south attacked this fort. This was how the Civil War began. Overall, there were three things that brought up the war. Not only slavery. In the end, the Union won. From then on, there were no slaves in the U. S.



The Civil War started because of slavery, the economy, and states rights. The North didn’t want slavery, but the South did. The North had factories so they did not need slavery. The North thought the federal government should pick whether or not to have slavery. The South disagreed. That is the three main reasons the Civil War started. It was the bloodiest war, and it ended slavery.



The Civil War was started because of slavery, the economy, and states rights. The Northern states thought there should be no slavery, but the Southern states disagreed. Because the Northern states were free states, there was a law that no one could buy, sell, trade, or own slaves there, but the South was the exact opposite. Southern states grew cotton, Mid-western states grew wheat, and Northern states had many factories and businesses. The Northern states paid people to work in the factories. In the Mid-west, farm owners saved money by paying one person to run a wheat cutting machine that did the job of 12 people. There was a different way of life in the South, though. Rich, Southern, plantation owners owned slaves. Slaves worked without pay on the plantation gathering cotton and doing other jobs. Many states in the South wanted to make their own laws, instead of the Federal Government making them. The North wanted the Federal Government making them. The North wanted the Federal Government to make the laws though. The states were also debating whether or not the newly formed states should be free states or slave states. As a result, the Southern states seceded from the United States, and the Civil War began. It ended in 1864 and slavery was abolished, but many people were killed.

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