The+Civil+War+Begins-Dabeach

= By 1850, slavery was becoming an exception in the world and the South came to see itself as ringed around by enemies. It grew increasingly defensive as it was attacked as an economic backwater. During the 1850s, the Whig Party collapsed, the Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern factions, and a new sectional party, the Republic Party, arose which was committed to blocking the westward expansion of slavery. A growing number of Northerners were convinced that a Southern Slave Power was willing to stop at nothing to expand southern slavery and that it would undercut the civil liberties of Northerners if necessary to achieve that end. Southern leaders believed their strategy of waging a defensive war of attrition would force the Union to spend its resources until it grew tired and agreed to negotiate. =