What caused the American Civil War?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: What caused the American Civil War?
Position1 of 2›: Slavery
Argument1 of 4›: Prevalence of white supremacy

White supremacy was prevalent across all levels of Southern society due to the historical presence of slavery in its agrarian economy.

The argument

White Southerners vehemently believed in the natural inferiority of non-white races, shaping both its culture and its political institutions around this assumption. Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander H. Stephen, emphasized how Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers' belief that slavery “was in violation of the laws of nature” and “their assumption of the equality of the races” were fundamentally wrong. Southerners were deeply concerned with emancipation, believing that it would lead to miscegenation and ultimately the destruction of the white race.

Premises

[P1]White Southerners believed in the natural inferiority of non-white races, shaping their culture and institutions around it. [P2] Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens explicitly rejected the Founders' assumption of racial equality as fundamentally wrong. [P3] Southerners feared emancipation would lead to miscegenation and the destruction of the white race. [C] Therefore, because the prevalence of white supremacy drove the South to defend slavery, slavery caused the American Civil War.

Counter-arguments

Southern politicians that initiated secession were primarily driven by the Southern economy's need for slaves and by how Northern politicians sought to increase their relative political power by stripping Southerners of their rights.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Slavery was moral due as it was a way to bring slaves into civilization proper. [Rejecting P2] Racism was rampant across all of the United States. Southerners adopted slavery due to the need for agrarian labor.