Why did the Civil War break out in the United States?

The Causes of the Civil War

The "one country, two systems" situation in the United States has been maintained for 60 years. By around 1850, the dispute over slavery between the South and the North began to heat up. However, the focus of the debate was not whether slavery should be abolished in the American South, but whether slavery should be allowed in some newly added states. This was related to the balance of power distribution between free states and slave states within the federal government. The 1850 Agreement temporarily maintained the balance in the number of free states and slave states in the Union, thus continuing the "one country, two systems" situation.

However, this situation soon came under attack. After 1850, the American Communist Party rose in the north. The Republican Party hopes that the vast new western frontier of the United States can avoid slavery and implement a free labor system, so it firmly opposes the expansion of slavery to the western states. As a result, the contradiction between the North and the South intensified. In 1860, Lincoln, a Republican, was elected President of the United States for the first time.

Lincoln’s election dealt a heavy blow to people in the American South. They lost confidence in the Union and felt that the interests of the South could no longer be protected by the Union. As a result, the proposal to secede from the Federation and establish an independent government was echoed.

In order to calm the anger and worries of Southerners, President Lincoln extended an olive branch to the South many times in his speeches. He stated that he hoped Southerners would recognize the difference between limiting slavery. His purpose was not to abolish slavery in the South. He asked the southern states not to secede from the Union, but to resolve issues within the Union. Since President Lincoln has promised not to abolish slavery in the South, it means that the policy of "one country, two systems" will continue. Then the South should no longer have a reason to be independent.

However, the southern states were no longer willing to be subject to the restrictions of "one country, two systems" and categorically announced their formation of a Confederate government. Southerners firmly believed in their right to secede from the Union and seek independence. At this point, the biggest difference between the north and the south lies.

Southerners believe that the American Union was formed when states freely joined. Now states are still free to withdraw. Northerners believed that since the states had joined the Union, they had formed an indivisible whole. The consent of all federation members is required when joining, and the same procedure must be followed when withdrawing②. The difference in understanding of this right of unity and secession became the dividing line between Southerners and Northerners, not the understanding of slavery. Therefore, the American Civil War was not about the elimination of slavery, but a battle between two forces: division and unification.