How Important Was the Issue of Slavery in Causing American Civil War

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How important was the issue of slavery in causing the American Civil war? Due to slavery America was divided into two halves, the North and the South, both had very different and in some cases radical views. Firstly the more industrialised North generally was through and through against slavery as many felt it was immoral but also realised that if you paid your workforce you would increase your means of production and efficiency which helped them become more industrialised. However the south was reluctant to give up their slaves and felt that they were doing the slaves a favour in keeping them, housing them and feeding them. They were like children and would not survive by themselves. When President Lincoln was elected into power in 1860 as promised South Carolina seceded from the United States of America, they felt that Lincoln would try and abolish slavery completely and felt that although he did not preach to abolish slavery trying to stop it spreading was just another way of expressing his views. However this was far from correct as although yes Lincoln did want to stop spreading slavery across the USA he realised that abolishing completely in the short term was just unrealistic and lead to further divide of the USA, nevertheless it was possible that no one was surprised when the radical state of South Carolina seceded from the USA. Carolina had always been a trouble state and this was not the first rift that they had with the Federal Government, however perhaps the more surprising issue was when fellow southern states followed suit and not long after 6 other southern states seceded. This consequently led to the battle of Fort Sumner and what was described by many as the start of the Civil War. So therefore many do believe that the election of Lincoln led to the outbreak of Civil War and not slavery directly, however the reasoning behind the secession was due
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