The Civil War split our nation into two separate nations, each fighting for their own causes. Southern states, led by South Carolina, rebelled against what they felt to be the national government's attempts to restrict a state's autonomy or right to make decisions for itself. These decisions involved slavery, tariffs, and an economic system that relied on agriculture.

The southern states had been arguing about their ability to make decisions about these issues since the Constitutional Convention. The Nullification Crisis brought the tariff conflict to the national stage during President Jackson's term. Congressional compromises were made about the expansion of slavery first with the Missouri Compromise in 1820, then in 1850, and in 1854 with the Kansas Nebraska Act. Fugitive Slave laws were a part of the compromises which made it a crime to help runaway slaves. The abolitionist movement gained momentum and support across the nation as a result of the harshness of the law, and the Republican Party was formed to fight the expansion of slavery. As the nation grew west and gained territory, the conflict over a state's right to allow slavery grew. In the western territories, people from both sections of the nation, strove to begin new lives with each other amidst the growing conflict.

When Lincoln was elected in 1860, South Carolina reacted by declaring itself separate from the United States or Union followed soon by Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Then Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas seceded as well.

The nation was at war with itself. More Americans died in this war than in any of our other wars combined. Families were pitted against each other. Battles at Antietam, Maryland and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania saw death in numbers never experienced by Americans.

Yet the war did two things; slavery was ended and the Union's victory put the issue of state's rights to rest, at least until the present day.

PLAY THE GAMES and WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW TO REVIEW THE CIVIL WAR!