So what caused the Civil War in the first place? Well let's start from the beginning. As you may have (or not) have known, the north and the south of the United States developed very differently. The north developed in industry while the south developed through agriculture. These different developments led to some arguments and the Civil War was a big argument. One cause of the Civil War was slavery. The north had no use for slaves due to the fact that they were industrializing the U.S now. The south had a big use for slaves because they needed them to tend to the farms. Since the north had abolished slavery, many immigrants came to America in the north searching for good work. The south, not so much. Another cause of the Civil War was the Dred Scott Decision. A slave by the name of Dred Scott believed that Africans had the right to be a citizen of the United States. He brought this idea to court, but it was rejected even though the north was pretty much thumbs up for it. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was a bestselling book that helped extend the campaign for abolishing slavery in America. This caused the south to become very angry and in the near end, they seceded from the north and became the Confederate States of America. Before the secession had happened, many slaves were able to escape with their lives through the Underground Railroad. Many of the northerners encouraged this and this caused the Civil War to occur. On October 16, 1859, John Brown and a bunch of abolitionists stole the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Many southerners believed that Brown was trying to raise an African army to rise up against the southerners. Brown denied that fact and was hanged by the southerners. The southerners believed that this was an act of war from the north and were infuriated. The Missouri Compromise was made saying that Missouri is a slave state and that Maine would be free. The Kansas-Nebraska Act overruled this law and made some countries pro-slave and some states anti-slave.