Cause of the Civil War: State Rights or Slavery 2
The True Cause of the Civil War: State Rights or Slavery?
The American Civil War (1861-1865) was a bloody military conflict between the
Southern and the Northern States that completely altered the country’s political, social, and
economic landscapes. Following Abraham Lincoln’s triumph in the 1860 presidential election,
seven lower southern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, and
Mississippi seceded from the union. Among the primary reasons for the secession and the Civil
War, include the states versus Federal rights, the fight between the slave and non-slave
advocates, the social and economic conflicts between the South and the North, abolition growth
and the election of Abraham Lincoln.
Despite the Civil War’s numerous causal factors, historians recognize slavery and states’
rights as the most dominant. However, reviewing the events preceding the war, the growing
cultural and economic differences between the two regions, and the deep mistrust, and the
differing philosophies on the powers of the federal and state governments, it is clear that the
actual cause of the Civil War was State rights rather than slavery. The question of whether the
national government had substantial powers or was merely a voluntary federation of sovereign
states had long been divisive since the birth of the American Republic. The conflicting
interpretation of the constitution drove the south to secede, not to save slavery, but to prevent the
subversion of the rights of individual states.
On November 15, 1777, the new federation adopted the first federal constitution under
the articles of Confederation. The new constitution created a system in which the states had
control over their affairs and kept the majority of powers. However, by 1787, leaders had
realized that a weak federal government was not working. Hence, they revised the articles of
Confederation and created the United States Constitution that created a strong federal
