Why was the American Civil War inevitable?

Answer 1

Most people believe it was because some people wanted to keep slaves and others wanted to emancipate them, but that is not entirely right.

Research shows that Lincoln said "slave states would remain slave states" and there would be no more new slave states. He had also said that if slaves had run away into free states, they would be brought back to their owner. The war did end slavery, but that was not the intended reason for the war.

The Civil War was inevitable because the South's way of life was different from the North. The South was mainly into farming. When the cotton gin was invented, most farmers started to grow cotton. These farmers had bought more land to grow cotton. To tend these fields, the farmers bought slaves. This is where the difference between the North and South was. The North had built factories and was into manufacturing goods. The South feared that they would be overrun economically by the Union. As abolitonists fought with slavery proponents in border states, pressure increased for a resolution of some kind.

Both sides had thought that they could win a war, but no one was certain how the North would react to secession.

1. The admission of California upset the balance achieved by the Missouri Compromise, and this was never restored.

2. Many Southern leaders believed that slavery must either expand or die. They would not accept Lincoln's deal, which was to allow slavery to continue but not expand.