What+caused+the+Civil+War?-aH

The Civil War is a time of despair in our country. The average person knows that the war was over, territories, southern slave territories and northern free territories to be exact. However, if you ask a U.S. citizen how the war was started, only a select few could really tell you. The point of no return began for the Civil War with the Missouri Compromise, the Election of 1860, and then //Uncle Tom's Cabin.// The Missouri Compromise tells us that states below the 36 30 line are to be slave territories, the states above the appointed line, are to be free. The comprise was created to please the north and south, as well as to find a equilibrium between their arguments. For the time being, the Missouri Compromise did as it was made to do, creating a ironic peace between the states. Following the Missouri Compromise came the 1850 Compromise, which destroyed the equilibrium between the states. It was to do the same job as the Missouri Compromise, pleasing both north and south, but for some reason the 1850 Compromise strayed from it's first occupation. This compromise allowed California to be admitted as a free state, but then the south got New Mexico as well as other territories. There were a few other gifts from north to south, but in the end this compromise blew up in smoke. It made the southern plantation owner's blood boil when the northerners refused to act upon some of the compromise. The result was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Another compromise between the two feuding territories that only ended up causing more problems then solving. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed Nebraska to be a free state and Kansas to be ruled under popular sovereignty (eventually making it a slave state). Keep in mind, Kansas was above the 36 30 line, which created problems that needed fixing in the Missouri Compromise. All of these compromises were made for peace and equality, but instead they only jump started future arguments between the north and south. Honest Abe, or Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican candidate during the 1860 election. He was a awkward fellow, but had great morals. Since the beginning of the United States, there were far more democratic presidents than there were republicans. At the time of the 1860 election, there were rumors that a republican president would try to destroy the south's slave trade. This new rumor didn't add to the south's already worry causing problems. They began to spew their anger in the form of gossip. Gossip that talked of a secession from the United States. When historical Abe was elected president, the south acted on their gossip. The first to go was South Carolina, followed by the deep southern states. The secessionists had left before Lincoln was even inaugurated. When the time of Lincoln's inauguration finally came, the only southern states left were Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia. Abe became slightly annoyed by the south's action and wanted to begin a war, trying to restore the south to the U.S. However, he didn't want to appear as the bad guy to the states remaining. Thus, he enticed the south to fire the first shot. The "known" beginning of the Civil War began at Fort Sumter in Virginia. It was one of the only southern forts that hadn't actually surrendered to the south. Lincoln cleverly told them he was bringing supplies to the fort, not reinforcements. But to the south, supplies were reinforcements. The south acted as soon as possible and attacked the fort. Now, Lincoln could declare war without appearing as the bad guy, stating that the south attacked them first.