The issues of slavery and central power divided the United States

By the middle of the 19th century, slavery was primarily confined to the southern states, where slaves were employed as domestic servants, artisans, and farmhands. The mainstay of the predominantly agrarian southern economy was chattel slavery. The industrial sector dominated the economy in the northern states. Slavery was an institution that many in the north and south thought was morally repugnant and wrong, but it persisted, leaving a wide gap in the political and social landscape. The pressure from northern politicians and "abolitionists," which included the zealot John Brown, made Southerners feel threatened. They asserted that the federal government had no authority to abolish slavery, impose specific taxes, compel the construction of infrastructure, or influence the westward expansion of the United States against the wishes of the state governments.

While other people in the north believed that southern lawmakers had too much influence in the House and Senate and could never be placated. However, leaders from the founding of the United States through the antebellum years tried to reach an agreement on important issues to avoid dividing the nation and ultimately prevent war. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Compromise of 1850, the Missouri Compromise, and numerous more agreements failed to prevent war and secession in the nation. Politicians from both sides of the aisle ultimately dug in their heels. The Confederate States of America was created when eleven states seceded from the Union in the following order: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.