American Civil War Overview

Slavery and the War’s Origins

Slavery was the central cause of the American Civil War, especially for the Southern states that seceded. Southern leaders feared that the growing antislavery movement and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 threatened slavery’s expansion and long-term survival. The main political conflict concerned whether slavery would be permitted in the Western territories, which affected the balance of power between free and slave states. Seceding states explicitly identified the preservation of slavery as a primary reason for leaving the Union, despite later Lost Cause interpretations that minimized slavery’s role. Lincoln and the Republican Party opposed the expansion of slavery but initially did not seek to abolish it where it already existed. Their refusal to accept compromises that would extend slavery, combined with Southern fears of eventual abolition, intensified the secession crisis. Seven Deep South states seceded after Lincoln’s election and formed the Confederacy; four more joined after Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. The Union’s principal initial objective was preserving the nation, while the abolition of slavery became an official Union war aim with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and was permanently achieved through the Thirteenth Amendment.

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Secession and Confederate Formation

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