The cause of the Civil War

Somehow, someway Americans still debate the cause of our Civil War, or ,more precisely, why the South seceded. I'm shocked every time I engage in this debate that the cause is debatable at all. With 2011 the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war, I think it's a worthwhile investment for folks to brush up on their history. Not everyone is expected to pick up Shelby Foote, James McPherson or Michael Sahara but there are "cliff notes" available on the war that I think are worth a read. The Washington Post has produced some great content as it covers this momentous anniversary. For example, the Post is tweeting the war, producing short historical quizzes and offering smart briefs such as, "Five myths about why the South seceded."

So if you do have any lingering questions about why the South seceded look no further. From the Post:

"On Dec. 24, 1860, delegates at South Carolina's secession convention adopted a 'Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.' It noted 'an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery' and protested that Northern states had failed to 'fulfill their constitutional obligations' by interfering with the return of fugitive slaves to bondage. Slavery, not states' rights, birthed the Civil War.

"South Carolina was further upset that New York no longer allowed 'slavery transit.' In the past, if Charleston gentry wanted to spend August in the Hamptons, they could bring their cook along. No longer -- and South Carolina's delegates were outraged. In addition, they objected that New England states let black men vote and tolerated abolitionist societies. According to South Carolina, states should not have the right to let their citizens assemble and speak freely when what they said threatened slavery.

"Other seceding states echoed South Carolina. 'Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery -- the greatest material interest of the world,' proclaimed Mississippi in its own secession declaration, passed Jan. 9, 1861. 'Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of the commerce of the earth. . . . A blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.'"