The American Civil War
            
            
             The American Civil War was one of the most momentous and controversial events in American history. The South wanted to maintain its way of life. Although the war was not fought over slavery directly, many causes were connected to slavery in some way. The South was tired of abolitionists and northerners in general criticizing them. "Bloody Kansas" angered both sides and John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was the last straw for some Southerners. Southern aristocrats claimed that events occurring in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin did not occur. But most of all, the South was feeling the political power they had slipping away. With the introduction of the new purely sectional party, the Republicans, the South had had enough. Then the election of a Republican president, there was now a reason to declare independence. The South wanted the right to govern themselves. The south believed the north was economically dependent on them. They believed the North needed their cotton and their markets to sell manufactured goods. They also felt that their departure from the union would be not be stopped.
             One political obstacle encountered by slave owners was foreign intervention. The South was depending heavily on foreign involvement. The common people of Britain and France were hoping for a Union victory and the possibility of the end of slavery. Therefore they would not allow their governments to recognize the Confederates as a separate nation. The South was angered at the emergence of the Republican party. They could feel their power slipping from their grasp and they did not like it. "The new Republican party...was a strictly Northern phenomenon. The crucial point was reached in the presidential election of 1860, in which the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, defeated three opponents...Lincoln's victory was the signal for the secession of South Carolina ...