The American Civil War was the bloodiest conflict in American history. Some 620,000 Americans lost their lives during the four-year struggle that began at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. This book traces the sectional strife that emerged during the early 19th century and grew more pronounced during the 1850s. It discusses such key issues as slavery, economic and social differences between North and South, and the efforts by leaders of both regions to hold political power nationally. Key events in the sectional conflict, including the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the presidential election of 1860, are fully explained. Each of these helped push the United States down the path to the secession crisis and war. - from Amzon