What was the first event that sparked the US Civil War?

Answer 1

In 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia English settlers bought about 20 Africans from a Dutch ship. Although these were treated more as indentured servants,as more arrived and the practice spread throughout the colonies(North and South) over several decades, it began to change to outright slavery. I believe this is when the seeds were sown which would eventually lead to the war.

This is the standard Before the Mayflower agrument. It has some validity however as a raison d'etre to the American War of the Rebellion it has little weight. Negro slavery was condoned in every British North American colony (and in the United States after 1787). The first true military event which sparked the American Civil War was of course the incidents in Kansas territory in 1856-1859 and the one event which really inspired the Civil War was the raid on the United State Arsenel at Harpers Ferry Virginia (West Virgina would not become a state until 1863) by John Brown in late 1859. The Raid was of course put down by a battalion under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. To Many historians, including this one, this is truly the event that sparked the American War of Rebellion (1861-1865)/// It seems that if the War Between the States was all and only about slavery then the firstevent would be the arrival of the slaves onto the soil on which the war would later be fought. If you change the nature of the question,then so changes the nature of the answer. The question as it was posed said nothing about a military event.

Answer 2

The Southern bombardment of Federal Fort Sumter, and its surrender, led directly to events that began the larger armed conflict called the US Civil War. President Lincoln was resolved that no loss of Union lives or property, such as Fort Sumter would be tolerated. He asked for 75,000 volunteers to bring down the Southern rebellion. He, like many others, believed the rebellion would be short lived. That's why the 75,000 volunteers were only to be enlisted for 90 days.