One could always simply read "Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union" which specifically lays out why South Carolina split.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp
"The bottom line is the war started over taxation."
Yes, but it's not that quite simple.
The import taxes were high on southern states and South Carolina in particular, which was making noises about succeeding as early as the 1830s. But they were the only state doing so and after a compromise was reached between President Andrew Jackson and Vice President John Calhoun, the latter realized some form of Southern Solidarity was needed, because the tariff/tax problem would come up again. So he promoted the idea that the right to own slaves was part and parcel of the Southern states and that important economic factor was under threat from the Federal government.
So yes, taxes and tariffs may be the real underlying cause, but make no mistake, slavery and a state's right to allow slavery, were strongly mixed in there.
Recent Comments