What was the real reason for the North invading the South?

I think one of the concerns the north had was that Great Britian was allying itself with the South. Great Britian would do anything to disrupt U.S. and try to take it over.

I thought that the first military action was the capture by the South of the federal forts in the Southern states (notably the attack on Fort Sumter in South Carolina), not an “invasion” by the North.

cause… that’s what you do during a civil war?

You don’t just let a third of your country leave without putting up a fight. The situation became hostile(whether the north or south were the aggressors) and the Union had to do damage control.

@Harp They did as they tryied to cede from the Union. Why did they try to cede though?

But that’s a different question, isn’t it? You first asked why the North attacked the South, but now you seem to be asking what the South’s motivation was for seceding. Seems like two separate points.

This is not a matter of belief, but well-documented history. If you genuinely do not know, try :Google”:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=why+did+south+secede+from+the+union&aq=0&oq=why+did+south+secede.

“The South was already angry and upset about the compromises and decisions that had been made earlier regarding slavery. For example, the Dred Scott Decision, Compromise of 1850, Compromise of 1820, Kansas Nebraska Act, Raid at Harpers Ferry, Three Fifths Compromise, and Missouri Compromise were some of the compromises and decisions made at the time to try to deal with disagreements over slavery.

During the presidential election of 1860, Southern leaders told the South to secede from the Union if Lincoln were to win the election because they believed Lincoln was an abolitionist. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union following Lincoln’s election. Soon after, five more states followed. Within six months, a total of eleven states had seceded from the Union.”

The division of Korea at the 38th parallel occurred in the closing days of WWII and was essentially an agreement drawn up between the Soviets and the Americans. After the war, Korea remained divided, with a Communist puppet state in the north, and a reconstructed free state in the south. Both sides wanted the peninsula reunited, but each wanted it on their own terms.

In June, 1950, the north invaded the south in force, on the pretext of answering one of the many border skirmishes that had occurred across the 38th parallel since the division of the county. The invasion was an attempt by Pyongyang to reunite the country under its rule, by force.

That is what you were talking about, isn’t it?

@IchtheosaurusRex Damn Yankees!

cotton

@IchtheosaurusRex – Thank you I always wondered about that.

@Ozzman You need to read up on your history there, Ozzman. The British, by 1860 had absolutely no plans to re-conquer the U.S. Their main concern was too much disruption, as they relied on the south for much of their cotton supply

Better vacation spots in the winter?
Maybe they weren’t invited to Mardi Gras?

For real? There is no such thing as the “real” reason. The war with the South, which was brought on by them, not as an invasion from the North, was fought for many economic and cultural reasons.

@Harp…Damn Yankees.

Drew, if you wanted to, you could get a doctorate by studying this one particular question, it is not very simple. Most US history classes will spend several weeks outlining the long string of events that led up to the secession.

But, because I know you were looking for a “slavery vs. not slavery” discussion, I’ll say this. The last straw seemed to be when the central government discounted the States’ claim of nullification power, which would allow them to deem any federal law as null and void. The South thought that the North was going to push through an abolition of slavery, and now the South had no legal means of stopping it. So they attempted to absolve themselves from the responsibility of following the law.

Ivan is right. The war was really more about the states’ fear of having their power taken away by a large, centralized government. Slavery was how both sides sold it to the people.