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So, I read the attached article. I found it fascinating (not as good as Alice in Wonderland, and with the same relation to the truth, but fascinating, nonetheless).

Lets’ start with the statement “Technically the 10 causes listed are reasons for Southern secession. The only cause of the war was that the South was invaded and responded to Northern aggression.”. By “invasion” I presume the author is talking about the first battle of Bull Run, which occurred on July 21, 1861. Now, I am a product of Public and DoD schools, but I always learned that April comes before July, which would make the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 the first battle of the Civil War. There, Confederate forces under Pierre Gustave Toutant-Buauregard (love that name!) attacked US forces at Fort Sumter. So, if the first battle of the Civil War occurred over 3 months before the first US invasion, how was the invasion the cause of the war? Interestingly enough, Fort Sumter is addressed in #10 below. As I read it, Lincoln instigated the incident by not immediately surrendering and forcing the South to shoot first. Talk about blaming the victim (it’s your fault that I had to shoot you, because you didn’t give me your wallet fast enough).

The article then lists the 10 causes of the war. They are, in order (I’m assuming the order is important, otherwise they would just be bullet points):
1. Tariff
2. Centralization versus States Rights
3. Christianity Versus Secular Humanism
4. Cultural Differences
5. Control of Western Territories
6. Northern Industrialists Wanted the South’s Resources
7. Slander of the South By Northern Newspapers
8. New Englanders Attempted To Instigate Massive Slave Rebellion’s In The South
9. Slavery
10. Northern Aggression Against Southern States
When looking at history, I always like to go to the original source material. I would consider the Articles of Secession that each state wrote as a primary source. After all, this is what the actual people involved wanted to tell the world. Let’s start with South Carolina’s, as they were the birthplace of the Confederacy. I would assume that, since the Tariff is #1 on the list above, it would be prominently placed in the Article of Secession, right? Strangely enough, the South Carolina Article NEVER mentions Tariffs. Neither does Georgia’s, nor Mississippi’s, nor Texas’s. I could go on, but I suspect you get the point. You know what they all mentioned as the primary cause of the Secession (say it with me, you know what it is)? SLAVERY.
So, if the people actually involved with the rebellion say that the primary cause was Slavery, why is it listed as the ninth most important reason in the article? And if the author is so wrong about that, why should I believe anything in this article