Neither States Rights nor Slavery caused the Civil War

Defense: I am not stating that neither of my debating topics had nothing to do with the civil war, but I am just saying that there is a bigger, underlying aspect. Cause 1: Westward expansion. This is the only thing that slavery had any aspect on. Slavery had no other effect in the civil war. The civil war was not begun to end slavery. The westward expansion had several consequences in addition to the slavery question. And the underlying debate under the slavery question was whether the states got to decide whether to be free states or not, not the government. The underlying question was not slavery, but whether the individual states got to decide their fate, or if the government got to make a sweeping law that banned slavery in all states. This ruins the slavery argument. Know we are down to one debateable topic: states rights. Cause 2: Kansas. In the late 1850s, a semi-War was erupting in Kansas. Same sides, but smaller scale. This was a precursor to war. Some of it was about slavery, but the majority was just serious tension, and the hundreds of Guerrilla War bands roaming around the state. Cause 3: Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln's election let the fuse on the powder keg of rebellion. People who say slavery say that the south could not handle that Lincoln's on slavery. People who say state's rights say the exact same thing. They agree here. But there is something more underlying. Lincoln said that he would not stop slavery in the states that had already ratified it. This debate again stems from the statement "already ratified it". So in other words, the southerners were not concerned about their own states, but on the states that were being decided, such as Arizona and California. They questioned whether Lincoln had the power to prevent slavery in new states. This serves as backup to the anti-Slavery argument. Cause 4: The weeks after Lincoln's election. South Carolina seceded 1 1/2 months after Lincoln was elected, and before he was even in office (due to the 1/20 step-out date for the previous president, James Buchanan). Lincoln already said what he was going to do to the western states regarding slavery. South Carolina could not handle it. The only way out: Secession. Cause 5: South Carolina. The states in the deep south (i.e. the first seven states to secede) were waiting for an excuse or a fuse. When South Carolina seceded on December 20th, 1860, that got the ball rolling for the other six states in the deep south to secede. Cause 6: Fort Sumter. This was the second biggest reason to the cause of the civil war. There was still a very likely chance before the firing on Fort Sumter that both sides would reach a resolution. War was not anticipated. But Lincoln was smart. As the southern states took possession of Federal Property, only two remained; Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter. Lincoln wanted to hold on to Fort Sumter for one reason: it was an excuse for war. The Confederate strategy was to starve Fort Sumter into submission. But when Lincoln called for a floatila of ships to resupply Fort Sumter under the flag of truce their plan would be foiled. But their was an alterior motive in Lincoln. If the Confederates did not fire at the ships to try to sink them, then Fort Sumter would remain a hazard to commerce in the Port of Charlestion due to it's position in the bay. If the Confederates did fire, Lincoln would have an excuse for war, which was what he was looking for. He realized the Confederates would most certainly fire. And they did. Thus, war. Cause 7: The aftermath of Fort Sumter and the Border States. Lincoln had the excuse he was looking for. The Confederates had assailed Federal Property, and thus there was grounds for war. As a result, Lincoln called for to raise 75,000 to put down the rebellion. One problem, the Border States. The Union without the border states was seperated for the Confederacy. A naval war would accomplish little, and an overland campaign would be impossible. If the Union or the Confederacy marched through the border states, they would side with the other side. Whoever held the border states essentially had the war. When Lincoln called for the troops, that was enough for Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Arkansas. They all seceded. They recognized they would be assailed by the Union. And the other three border states, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were on strenuous and complicated ties with the Union. Maryland's state Government had to be arrested, Kentucky fought it's own little Civil War, half of Missouri was recognized by the Union, and the other half by the Confederacy. Cause 8: The aftermath of Secession: When all of the border state business was finished, Lincoln had to call for more troops. The little Unionist statement in the already seceded border states was effectively abolished, and only after Maryland's Secessionist Government had been locked away, and after the tide of battle was away from Kentucky and Missouri did the border state problem end. And even still there were hundreds of organized guerrilla raids in Missouri during and even well after the war. Cause 9: The ending of the beginning. Thus the battle lines have been drawn. There was no going back. After Fort Sumter, only War could resolve the conflict. Cause 10: The Battle of Manassas. Both sides were expecting one big battle to end the war. Thus it wasn't even a "war". It was just one battle. One battle would decide the war. But even though the Confederates routed the Yankees, after Bull Run, both sides realized that they had vastly underestimated the other side, and that a long war was in the process. Causes 1-9 started the first battle. Cause 10 started the war. Cause 11: The Battle of Wilson's Creek and Ball's Bluff: Both were Confederate victories. This only solidified the long war theory from Manassas. Cause 12: The Battle of Shiloh: This battle had more casulties than all other battle casulties in the US COMBINED. So the number of casulties in the Revolutionary War War of 1812 Mexican War Bull Run Wilson's Creek Ball's Bluff anything else still did not equal the number of casulties at Shiloh. This was the second big wake up call for both sides. Not only would it be a long war, but it would be a bloody war, a lot more bloody than even anticipated after Bull Run. Cause 13: The Economy and Situation of Both Sides: This was the main cause. The North was industrialized, well in the times with the Industrial Age, and was fully modern. The South on the other hand, was mostly agricultural, barely into the Industral Age, and viewed by many to be backward. Because I am almost out of room, here three of the charts that are probably the most important (I will add more with the next post): Northern Industrial Establishments in 1860: 110,274 Southern Industrial Establishments in 1860: 18,026 How many times more Establishments the North has: 6.11749 Tons of Northern Shipping mid 1860-mid 1861: 4,602,888 Tons of Southern Shipping mid 1860-mid 1861: 286,445 How many times more Shipping is done by the South: 16.06901 Northern Gross Domestic Product in 1860: $1,754,600,000 Southern Gross Domestic Product in 1860: $145,350,000 How many times more GDP is in the North: 12.07155 This seemingly irrelevant difference was actually played a big differnce in the Civil War. It had a profound effect on the start of the war and how the war was fought from a weaponery standpoint.