Final Analysis of Civil War Essay Slavery was the most important cause of the Civil War, because this single issue divided the North and South from the beginning. Ideological differences between the North and the South led to economic differences, conflicts over newly acquired territories, disputes over the constitution, and political extremism. The 1860 election was the culmination of these disputes and caused the South to secede in 1861 and paved the way for the Civil War. The Northern states had a predominantly industrial economy. The coastal states were filled with port cities to ship manufactured goods to other places in the world. Capitalism was in full swing and factories of all kinds were popping up everywhere. The North's industrial strength ended up being its greatest strength during the entire Civil War. The North's supply of labor and the quantity of goods it produced was unmatched by any other country in the world. The North sought to protect all newly acquired industries, especially textile factories. Thus, when the South attempted to trade its largest export, cotton, to Britain for textiles and other manufactured goods, the North, with double the population and greater influence in formulating federal policies, placed tariffs on the goods British imported into the United States. The South felt this was a violation of their rights. The Southern States had a much smaller rural economy, King Cotton. The South was built on a foundation of agriculture, plantations, and cotton production. They also had a smaller population and, consequently, a smaller workforce. With fewer workers and a labor-intensive agricultural economy, they were left with only one option: slavery. In 1800 the South had about 1 million... means of paper... the Constitutional Union party. Lincoln's victory was the cause of South Carolina's secession on December 20, 1860. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas followed in South Carolina's footsteps, seceding soon after. The new Confederate government under President Jefferson Davis and South Carolina were very determined to defeat the Federals. Through all the political affairs, territorial disputes, economic differences, and elections of 1860, slavery appears to play a role in each of these decisions. In the end it all comes back to the issue of slavery. Trying every possible way to solve this recurring problem has never seemed to work well enough to benefit either party. Eventually, because of all the disagreements and debates, slavery started the Civil War, the most important and terrible war in the history of the United States..