Was Slavery the Sole Cause of the Civil War?

"Seven states seceded in the winter of 1860-61, and, on March 11, 1861, formed a new Confederacy of sovereign States with virtually the same Constitution as the United States. It created "a government proper,&quot, and the laws of Congress acted directly on individuals. The other Southern States seceded later when called on to engage in a war against this new Confederacy."

"Why was that first secession? African slavery had existed in every colony and State and was particularly recognized and cared for in the Constitution, every State agreeing to return to the owner any fugitive slave. Without this recognition, there could have been no Union. An eminent justice of the United States Supreme Court, Henry Baldwin, of Pennsylvania, had declared slavery "the cornerstone" of the Government (Johnson vs. Tompkins, 1, Baldwin)."

Slavery functioned as the fundamental and sole cause of the American Civil War, producing increasing sectional animosity between North and South. Seven Southern states seceded in winter 1860–61 and formed a Confederacy on March 11, 1861, adopting a constitution virtually identical to the United States and establishing an independent government whose laws applied to individuals. The U.S. Constitution expressly recognized slavery and required return of fugitive slaves, which underpinned the Union. An eminent justice described slavery as "the cornerstone" of the government. When Northern states began abandoning slavery, withdrawal from the Union became the only honest recourse for slaveholding states.

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