"Southern rights" . "increasing in likelihood" . . . . "years just before the American Civil War" . "beginning of the American Civil War" . "American Civil War" . "cause of the Civil War" . "sectional crisis" . "Civil War" . "war loomed closer" . "secession was motivated" . . "cause of the American Civil War" . "catalyst of the American Civil War" . "central issue of the war" . "Origins_of_the_American_Civil_War#Antebellum_South_and_the_Union" . . "this conflict it has feared for over a decade" . "outbreak of the Civil War" . "Prelude to the Civil War" . "factors that led to the Civil War" . . . "a series of conflicts" . "run-up to the Civil War" . "impending clouds of war loomed" . "antislavery" . "origins" . "Prior to the outbreak" . . "conflict" . "secession" . "abolitionist" . . "southern rights" . "immediate impetus" . "rise in tensions" . "the political chaos" . . "sectional tensions increased" . "central cause" . "Origins_of_the_American_Civil_War" . "North\u2013South tensions" . "cause of the war" . "threat of civil war" . . "lead up" . "Origins of the American Civil War" . . "Origins of the Civil War" . "issues that played a role" . "origins of the American Civil War" . "cause of the War" . "primary cause" . "causes of the American Civil War" . "leading up" . "major issue in national politics" . "seven southern states seceded from the United States" . "causes of the war" . . "causes of the Civil War" . "origins and causes" . "set the stage for the Civil War" . "primary catalyst for secession" . "Origins of the American Civil War" . "the period of national crisis" . "led to the American Civil War" .