How did slavery contribute to the start of the Civil War?

The Constitution left many questions about slavery unanswered, in particular, the question of slavery’s status in any new territory acquired by the U.S. The failure to deal forthrightly and comprehensively with slavery in the Constitution guaranteed future conflict over the issue and was ultimately one of the primary catalysts for war. read more

Therefore, slavery caused the Civil War. Northern abuse of states' rights did not. The South's best men (as portrayed in the Turner films Gettysburg and Gods and Generals) disliked slavery and thought it an evil like tobacco and alcohol: in both films, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are shown to be nondrinkers and non-smokers who hope that after the Civil War, slavery will be ended. read more

Not only did abolitionists produce more militant attacks on slavery in the years leading to the Civil War, but they often vilified slaveholders themselves as the embodiment of evil. Abolitionists did not form these opinions in a vacuum. read more