Between 1861 and 1865 the United States fought its bloodiest war. Although the reasons the Civil War started had little to do directly with the issue of slavery, it was at the heart of the political and economical reasons the Southern States seceded. The Southern population felt that they had a right to decide the future of slavery without interference from the Federal Government, or from the Northern Abolitionists. Southerners felt that the Federal Government was dominated by Northern interests who wanted slavery to be abolished. Economically the South depended on slavery for its survival, because the southern economy was based on growing cotton, tobacco and rice. Most Southerners felt that if slavery was abolished the South would become economically ruined. Therefore slavery was a catalyst for the differences of opinion between North and South, but each side would never admit in 1861 that the war was being fought to free...