There are many underlying causes for the bloodiest war in U.S. history. For the most part the North and south were competing in four main issues: Government, the economy, the general geography of the two regions.

To start I will compare the competing forms of government. The North believed in a strong centralized government. They felt that to secede as a nation that we needed a strong unifying force to hold the country together. While the South had a strong belief that states should govern themselves. Not only were the two separated by these beliefs but also slavery. Though throughout the early 1800's there were several attempts to solve this issue such as the Missouri Compromise. At the time of the compromise was great it kept the balance of the free and slave states (which made many politicians happy), on the other...