Causes of the American Civil War No issue dominates the history of early eighteenth and nineteenth century America like the problem of slavery. It is amazing that even today, over 130 years after the Civil War started, there is still passionate debate regarding the "cause" of the Civil War. The curious thing is that although slavery was the moral issue of the nineteenth century that divided the political leaders of the land, the average American had …showed first 75 words of 2091 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2091 total…to seek the right to secede. But was the war entirely about slavery? No. It was also about the constitutional argument over whether or not a state had the right to leave the Union and the continuation of antebellum southern culture. Although the majority of Southerners had little interest in slaves, slavery was a primary interest of Southern politicians and consequently the underlying cause of the South’s desire to seek independence and states rights.