1. Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

3. Bleeding Kansas As I become a little more acquainted with this part of the Territory I think quite favorably of it; & I would by no means advise those of my friends who are here to leave in search of a better country. We feel more, & more certain that Kansas will be a Free State. At this moment there is quite an excitement here growing out of a report of the Murder of a young Free Stater man by a Missourian. Large numbers on both sides are said to be in Arms near Lawrence; & some anticipate a Bloody fight. - John Brown, 1855

4. A House Divided A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South. - Abraham Lincoln

5. Address of John Brown to the Virginia Court, 1858 In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along admitted, -- the design on my part to free slaves. I intended certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter, when I went into Missouri and took slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to do the same thing again, on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection… Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments. -- I submit; so let it be done!

6. I. Sectionalism turns Violent A. Bleeding Kansas (1855) - Conflict between pro- and anti-slavery factions in Kansas B. Congressman Preston Brooks beats Senator Charles Sumner with his cane. C. John Brown raids Harpers Ferry  Brown was a radical abolitionist who organized a raid on a federal arsenal in Virginia; he was caught and executed, Southerners fear Northern Republican attacks

7. Election of 1860

9. II. Immediate Causes of the War Lincoln (Republican) wins 1860 Election  39% of popular vote; majority of Electoral Vote (none from South) Lower South secedes (formally withdraws) from the Union  SC is first  Form Confederate States of America Lincoln pledges to PRESERVE THE UNION at all costs Battle of Fort Sumter