Introduction Civil war is the hostility between opposing political factions of the same country or within a community (Sammis 1). Such hostilities are usually very bitter and the consequences are dire. It results in deaths, despair and bitter wounds.Many children are rendered destitute, many people become disabled, women are raped and many men loose lives. The American civil war lasted from 1861 to 1865 between the North and South. The south wanted to secede from the North because of seemingly irreconcilable differences. During this period, many people were killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, children exposed to horrific scenes and many got physical injuries. What was left behind was a grieving population with thousands mourning the deaths of their loved ones, feeling helpless and downtrodden. It is estimated that during this very battle, there were over 600,000 casualties (Stoker 115). Discussed below were the causes of the civil war in the United States America. Election of Abraham Lincoln as the President When Abraham Lincoln was in 1860 elected as the president of the United States of America, Some Southern states immediately declared reasons for separation. South Carolina had even unilaterally declared their secession before election (Selcer 99). This was followed by other states such as Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Lincoln was a moderate and was viewed by the south as a person to abolish slavery and always in favor of Northern states Slavery The land that was obtained from Louisiana Purchase and that gained from the Mexican war elicited many questions. This occurred at a time when America was greatly expanding its territories. There were different opinions as to whether the newly admitted states should be slave free or not. A compromise was reached in 1820 banning slavery in the states which were formerly Louisiana Purchase. Conflict arose during the Mexican war, the question being what would happen to the new states upon the victory of the US in the war (Selcer 83). There was much debate and a compromise was reached in 1950 to balance slave free States in the North and South. The Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854 further worsened tensions. The act sought to create two new boundaries that would given the states freedom to choose between slavery and antislavery. This was followed by the people of Missouri moving into state of Kansas to force it to be slave state resulting in violence (Sammis 11). The fighting that occurred is famously known as the ‘Bleeding Kansas’, the violence further extended to the senate whereby the senator from the south who was a proponent of slavery fought that from the North who opposed the act. Socio Economic Differences The Southern economy was agricultural depending a lot on cotton. With the invention of a machine that eased the separation of seeds from cotton made cotton very profitable and this even attracted more South farmers to shift from planting other crops to cotton. Growing of more cotton meant that a lot of cheap labor was inevitably necessary. The source of this labor could only be slaves. Therefore, the south was so emotionally attached to slaves such that any mention o