What Caused America To Fight?

If there was any one thing to blame, it was the Kansas-Nebraska Act. It made it so that almost any unclaimed territory could become a slave state. For 43 years before that, the Missouri Compromise had kept slavery controlled, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act completely got rid of it. All of the now slave-allowing territories were in ‘no-slave area’ according to the Missouri Compromise, (Robertson Jr., 22). This brought slavery to the attention of all Americans, (Leidner, 9). This was the main cause of America’s fighting, even more than the political leaders. This act was created by Senator Stephan A. Douglas, of Illinois. Illinois, according to Robertson Jr.’s book (Civil War! America Becomes one Nation), Illinois was part of the North (the non-slave states). If any one person was to blame for the start of the Civil War, it would be him. All of the territory that was now open for slavery was in the zone the Missouri Compromise forbade slavery. One of the statements in the act was that the Missouri Compromise was to be removed, (Robertson Jr., 22). Abolitionists of slavery and Free-Soldiers were furious, (Robertson Jr., 22). See that, a North senator gets the north fired up to fight slavery. Of course, the political leaders had some roll in it. They were actually the only ones that wanted slavery to be gone. The other citizens didn’t care about slavery until, of course, the Kansas-Nebraska Act. So, what happened in the actual war?