I will probably live to regret posting the following but here goes anyway.
There has been a lot posted on the Civil War on the Campfire lately. Some good, some bad, and a bunch that is really stupid and absurd.
In terms of a historical event there have been more barrels of ink and reams of paper spent on the War Between the States than almost any other single thing in American History.
Since I am an Historian by professional training I have thought I might post some on how you can develop a better understanding of the events surrounding the Civil War if you are interested in doing some work and digging on your own.
Be forewarned there is an absolute Himalayan mountain range amount of material to sift through. A few quick internet searches are not going to get you anything but mostly perplexed and disgusted. Forget finding a single cause for the war because there is NO single overriding cause. Nor will you find a consensus list of causes. The Civil War is simply too complex an event for that.
The first step I would suggest is to see how the Civil War fits into the continuum of history. To do this you are going to have to begin with a clear understanding of the events prior to the outbreak of hostilities.
To this end I would suggest using 1861 as a starting date and go back at least 50 years. Once there begin with a well done textbook on American History. I would recommend the following volume:
