The three main causes of the civil war, infringement on civil liberties, infringement on states' rights, and the collapse of the two-party system made the conflict between North and South almost impossible to resolve.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected into presidency, it was implied in his inauguration speech that he was one who would abide more by Northern interests. First North Carolina, then other Southerners responded by doing what they had the “right” to do if they felt the government had become too oppressive: they filed a declaration of secession from the Union. Unfortunately, Lincoln called this secession a Rebellion instead of what it was. This was the result of the break-up of the political system of a growing nation.
At this time in history, the South was largely a plantation agricultural economy and their population was very slow to rise. On the other hand, the North had sincerely embraced an industrial economy and the birth rate soared. It soon became evident that the South was losing hold on their part of the government, something that became clear when talk of the abolition of slavery rolled around; it wasn't so much an issue that the government sought to abolish slavery as that ordering it on a Federal level was in violation of the Tenth Amendment and states' rights. Given all of these volatile circumstances happened near or around the same time, a conflict was nearly inevitable, however if handled correctly, the civil war may have been prevented.
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