The cause of the war was the states seceding! The states seceded because of the election of a Republican to the presidency. Why was a Republican candidate so repugnant to the southern states? Because their platform called for the restriction of slavery from the territories. The southern states had threatened to secede in the election of 1856 if the Republican candidate was elected. Come on man, you cannot be this dense.
You don’t need to tell me this. ‘’Bleeding Kansas’’. That’s were the Civil War really started and it’s a subject seldom if ever bought up here.