US History
Mr. Compton
12/7/14
Causes of the civil war The American Civil War was a war that occurred between 1861 and 1865 between slave states of the South and the North. There were many events that led up to this war, creating a lot of tension between people who were pro slavery and people who were against it. The most significant causes of the American Civil War were Popular sovereignty, because it created conflict between antislave and proslave supporters, Bleeding Kansas, because it created physical violence over slavery, and the Dred Scott Case because slaves were considered property not people. Popular sovereignty was one of the most important factors that led to the Civil War because, the new way of voting for the freedom of each state resulted in a lot of tension.
Popular sovereignty was a new way of deciding whether a state would be free or slave, based on the people’s vote. This new concept came about in the 1850’s and was popularized by
Stephen Douglas. Because of this new rule, instead of there being a line deciding if the state was free or slave, people received that advantage of getting to vote. This was an important change in the U.S. because it changed the way that states were declared free or slave. This created conflict between proslave and antislave supporters. Some aspects they may have angered people, is that it was very easy to come in from another state and pretend like that person was from there, just to get another vote on your side in. This would cause conflict that would be a major aspect in the start of the civil war. Bleeding Kansas was one of the most significant causes of the Civil War, because
Kansas became a battleground for a fight between proslave and antislave supporters. This was a fight that occurred in the Kansas territory in 1858. The battle was between free soilers, who were wealthy northerners against slavery, and the border ruffians, who were proslave supporters from