Why Did The Civil War Start

What was the actual reason that the Civil War started? Was it because the North didn’t want slavery anymore or was it because of something bigger than that? Could it have been an array of instances all tied together? There are many possibilities of why the Civil War began to include, slavery, money, and not having an individual leading the States. All of these are valid reason if one side opposed what the other side wanted. To follow there will be more in depth analysis of why the biggest war on American soil started and how it eventually ended. To start, one of the main reasons that the American Civil War started was because of slavery. While American began to expand due to the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War, there was much debate on whether or not the States gained would be slave or non-slave States. The Union wanted to ensure that there was equal number between the two so there would be equal opportunities for both, which proved to be extremely difficult. The Missouri Compromise, which was passed in 1820, established a rule that there would be no slave states within the states gained from the Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36 degrees, with the exception of Missouri. (Kelly, 2017).
David Wilmot propose the Wilmot Proviso in 1846 which would ban slavery in the territories won but was quickly shot down. After which, the Compromise of 1850, which was created by Henry Clay among others, was made to deal with the balance between slave and free states. It was designed to protect both the Northern and Southern states and their interests. Upon California’s admittance as a free state, one of the provisions they created was the Fugitive Slave Act. This provision held individuals responsible for harboring fugitives even if they were located in non-slave states. (Kelly,