Many average Americans would attribute the cause of the American Civil War to slavery, but are there other possible causes? Could the "history" taught in so many classrooms throughout the United States of America be wrong about something so important as the real cause of the Civil War? This paper will briefly discuss and present information on possible causes of the American Civil War other than the commonly believed slavery issue.
When asked what caused the American Civil War, most will say that slavery caused it. In fact, that was my original belief prior to beginning this study. President Abraham Lincoln never really addressed the slavery issue until support of the war started dwindling in the north. During the early days of the Civil War, he actually ordered slaves who escaped from the south to the north to be return to their owner. He did this in support of the Fugitive Slave Act, which was part of a collection of often referred to as the Compromise of 1850. .
Slavery was officially "tied" to the Civil War as a reason to fight after the President Lincoln made his Emancipation Proclamation is 1862. The following is an excerpt from his famous speech:.
"That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom." .
President Lincoln himself was "a believer in white supremacy" and was recorded making such statements during debates with Douglas. One such statement was recorded on September 18, 1858:.
"I will say then that I am not, nor have I ever been in the favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races .
