What caused the Civil War?

[Napolitanic Wars]

Ideologically, why did the South want to secede? We all know that President Abe didn't want the South to leave the Union. But why did they want to leave? Abe certainly had no interest in freeing slaves until he started losing the war.

 

[MozoVote]

The start of secession and the start of war were different things. The war started with Fort Sumter. It's plausible that if South Carolina had not reclaimed it, Fort Sumter might have remained a Federal outpost in the Charleston harbor like Guantanamo is a US possession in Cuba today. But I suppose it's just as likely some other border dispute could have blown up along the frontier between the Confederacy and Union. Maybe the formation of West Virginia could have set things off.

 

[jkr]

the idea that one person or ANY group of humans can en$lave one person or ANY group of humans

TYRANNY

 

[jmdrake]

Edit: Seriously though, while Lincoln had no intention to emancipate the slaves where slavery already existed, he did intend to restrict slavery to where it already existed. That and the nullification of the fugitive slave laws by northern states, and Lincoln's hint that he wouldn't enforce those laws, helped drive secession. And yes, tariffs were an issue, but tariffs were at historic lows when Lincoln was elected and he wouldn't have had the votes to raise tariffs but for the resignation of southern senators after their states seceded. The civil war was really a grudge match between greedy northern industrialists and greedy southern planters. The working class of both sides really didn't want a fight, that's why both sides (starting with the South) instituted a draft.

 

[CaptUSA]

One word. Slavery.


Give me my state-sponsored A+ on my paper and a skollership to the universety of my choyce!

 

[The Freethinker]

This URL from Lew Rockwell's website has TONS of articles exposing the REAL Lincoln and part of what is spoken about is the real reasons the Civil War occurred. I've read only a few, but these few were, to put it mildly, eye-opening.

 

[Origanalist]

This URL from Lew Rockwell's website has TONS of articles exposing the REAL Lincoln and part of what is spoken about is the real reasons the Civil War occurred. I've read only a few, but these few were, to put it mildly, eye-opening.

Good point, also try going here http://mises.org/ and put Lincoln in the search feature. You will get more than you bargained for.

 

[kathy88]

http://www.mikechurch.com/founders-tradin-post/audio/what-lincoln-killed/

Good stuff from Mike Church.

 

[Meatwasp]

Edit: Seriously though, while Lincoln had no intention to emancipate the slaves where slavery already existed, he did intend to restrict slavery to where it already existed. That and the nullification of the fugitive slave laws by northern states, and Lincoln's hint that he wouldn't enforce those laws, helped drive secession. And yes, tariffs were an issue, but tariffs were at historic lows when Lincoln was elected and he wouldn't have had the votes to raise tariffs but for the resignation of southern senators after their states seceded. The civil war was really a grudge match between greedy northern industrialists and greedy southern planters. The working class of both sides really didn't want a fight, that's why both sides (starting with the South) instituted a draft.

Your right as usual

 

[otherone]

It wasn't a 'civil' war, it was a central authoritarian power reclaiming freedom-loving secessionists.

 

[well_met_sir]

The war was cultural rather than ideological. The American Civil war wasn't the first war between New England and the South. The first war between the two sides happened in England, when they were called the Roundheads and the Cavaliers. The extremists on both sides left England and settled in the New World. See the book "Albion's Seed" for more information.

 

[green73]

Sigh

 

[Acala]

The start of secession and the start of war were different things. The war started with Fort Sumter. It's plausible that if South Carolina had not reclaimed it, Fort Sumter might have remained a Federal outpost in the Charleston harbor like Guantanamo is a US possession in Cuba today. But I suppose it's just as likely some other border dispute could have blown up along the frontier between the Confederacy and Union. Maybe the formation of West Virginia could have set things off.

Not exactly the same as Guantanamo. Lincoln had promised that he would use the troops at Fort Sumter to continue to extract tariffs from ships entering Charleston harbor. And if the South had not fired on Fort Sumter (a mistake, I think) it is very likely, given what we know about Seward's influence, there would have been another provocation and another and another. The Lincoln adminstration was intent on giving Northern industrialists control of an expanded Federal power. It was the first great crony-capitalist war.

 

[XNavyNuke]

Ideologically, why did the South want to secede? We all know that President Abe didn't want the South to leave the Union. But why did they want to leave? Abe certainly had no interest in freeing slaves until he started losing the war.

Use Google News. Perform a custom search using the word "secession" and set the range in five year increments starting around 1845. Then draw your own conclusion. Alternatively, you can listen to the "experts" here and elsewhere and trust that they know more than you do.

XNN