Federalist vs State Rights

• Before the Civil War began, the South was beginning to lose political power as Northern states grew in population. The Southern states started to feel isolated from federal authority in Washington, D.C. They believed that it was the right of the states to control law, and that state law should supersede federal law. When people from the North spoke of abolishing the practice of slavery, the South argued it was their right under the jurisdiction of state law.
  
  

Tariffs

• A source of monetary tension between South and North came over the taxing of goods from other countries, called tariffs. Southerners thought this was an unfair practice that was aimed at their business interests because they imported a higher volume of goods. Businesses in the South already had to pay more to ship products because their ports were farther from trade ports, according to a web page on the National Park Service's website.
  
  

Slavery

• During the Civil War, America was an agriculture-reliant economy. Slaves were used on many farms, cutting costs with free labor. While slavery had been a feature in North American life for more than a century, the attitude toward slavery changed over time in the North. They looked upon it as uncivilized and inhumane. Slavery in the South was legalized, under both federal and state law. The majority of the South refused to abandon something they felt was protected by law.
  
  

Abraham Lincoln

• The election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th Ppesident of the United States was a watershed moment in American history. According to the America Archive website, Lincoln considered slavery a "monstrous injustice." The Republican Party was viewed in the South as both pro-Northern and abolitionists, and were wary of a Republican victory. Lincoln's election victory in 1860 was met with dismay from the South. Before Lincoln had taken office, seven states had left the union, and all together 11 states joined the Confederate States of America.