In this chapter I will try to find out why the Civil War actually started and what the consequences of the war were. To find out I need to know a little more about the history of the Civil War. The causes of most wars are often very complex, but in the American Civil War they boiled down to two main issues: slavery and the protection of the Union. . In the North, they became increasingly rich thanks to the rapid development of industry. The workers were mostly immigrants with low wages. The South did not have these resources and slaves were essential to it. Northern politicians insisted that slavery must be abolished and that this was an evil system that needed to be eliminated. Only wealthy wool growers and other wealthy Southerners had their own slaves, but most of them thought that each state should decide its own policy rather than the federal government in Washington. When the war began, most Southerners fought for their states' rights and not just the issue of slavery. The North fought mainly to preserve the Union, but soon also wanted to free all the slaves of the South. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he was liberal-minded and this was the straw that broke the camel's back for the southern states. Southern leaders had long been waiting for an event like this that could unite the entire South against “antislavery forces.” When the election results were certain, a South Carolina convention declared their state separate from the United States...