A civil war is a war between citizens of the same country. From 1861 to 1865 America fought its own Civil War. The American Civil War began when several Southern slave states declared their secession. When they seceded, they formed the Confederate States of America, also known as the confederacy. The remaining states were known as the Union. Before the Civil War, slaves were treated unfairly, as property, rather than as people. One court case that demonstrates this is the 1857 court case Dred Scott v. Sanford. This court case had a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court where the Court decided that African Americans are property and cannot be American citizens. This case also decided that the 5th Amendment protects property, so slavery cannot be banned in any state. For a long time the belief that the slave industry caused the American Civil War was emphasized in films and school books. Historians have a more nuanced interpretation. The Civil War was caused by many reasons, not just the need for slave labor on the Southern cotton plantations. The American Civil War began due to several simple events that led to a more nuanced, complex, and much more interesting story. Many arguments, compromises and decisions such as Dred Scott v. Sanford were made on slavery, tore the United States apart, divided the country and started the Civil War. Many compromises contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War, the first of which is the Missouri Compromise. People at that time believed in manifest destiny. Manifest Destiny is the belief that it is their right to own all land from the East Coast to the West Coast. For this reason, America acquired the Louisiana Territory. With all the addition of o... half the paper... and the South only deepened the anger between them. Many discussions, compromises, and decisions such as the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas Compromise Nebraska's slavery law brought the nation closer to a civil war. Other aspects of the beginning of the Civil War were the Underground Railroad, The Liberator, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and John Brown's Raid. In 1865 the war finally ended. Slavery was abolished, but the price was high. Abraham Lincoln, considered a great visionary president, was assassinated. The war affected everyone, including women, families, homes and businesses. The Civil War was one of the costliest wars in American history and has also become a valuable part of our history. If it weren't for the Civil War, America wouldn't be the same. The South would still be separated and there would still be slavery throughout America.