How is slavery and the issue of states rights the two major causes of the civil war?

Answer 1

Congress wanted to protect American industry, which was nearly all in the North, by levying taxes on cheap imports. The South, which had almost no industry and needed cheap imports, saw this as the North taxing the South. So they resisted paying the taxes, claiming 'States Rights' - the right of individual states to take action independent of Federal law. Some wanted to go further: as cotton was so profitable, the Southern states often considered breaking away to form a separate nation.

Meanwhile the cotton trade rested on slave-labour, so the South reacted badly to the Abolitionist movement, which had attracted many distinguished Northerners. As new states opened up beyond the Mississippi, Abolitionists tried to ban slavery in these states. This made it harder to create new slave-states, and the South looked like being permanently outvoted in Congress - which would keep passing laws (like the import taxes) that favoured the North at the expense of the South.

This provided a further incentive for the Southern states to secede from the USA.

Since cotton accounted for half of all American exports, the North was not willing to lose the cotton revenues without a fight.

Answer 2

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