Because Vermont had joined the Union as a "Free" state in 1791 and Kentucky and Tennessee had joined as "Slave" states in 1792 and 1796 respectively, there were 8 "Free" States and 8 "Slave" states by the end of the 18th Century.

This perfect balance of "Free" and "Slave" states became an important and untouchable doctrine that was maintained for the next 50 years. It had the effect of keeping the Senate split between "Free" and "Slave" States so that no significant change to Federal law regarding slavery could be passed.

Up until 1800 the expansion of the United States was limited to the lands East of the Mississippi River. The territory to the West of the Mississippi had been colonized by the French and had been in the possession of the Spanish since 1762. In 1800 Napolean regained the territory and quickly came to the realization that defending this land from American encroachment was impossible. In 1803 he entered into the Louisiana Purchase which saw all of the lands draining into the Mississippi from the West become part of United States territory.

The Louisiana purchase itself had been driven by the increasing settlement of lands west of the Appalachians after the U.S. gained Independence. The soils and climate of the Southern U.S. are ideal for the growing of cotton and, armed with the cotton gin, anyone able to acquire land and slave labour in this region became very wealthy, very quickly. While it was possible to become rich with a large sugar or tobacco plantation it was virtually impossible not to become rich with even a small cotton farm. The world's largest slave economy had been born.

It is difficult to overstate the importance of the cotton economy during the first half of the 19th Century - not just to the "Slave" states but to the U.S. as a whole. Cotton production doubled every 10 years throughout that time period and by 1860 cotton accounted for 60% of the value of all U.S. exports and provided 75% of the global cotton supply. Slave cotton was the essential raw material driving growth in the textile industry of the Northern States. It is also worth noting that the Federal government of the U.S. did not have income taxing powers at that time and derived almost all of its income from excise taxes on trade goods.

It was with this background of explosive wealth creation fueled by slave labour that U.S. territorial expansion into the West took place.

Between 1800 and 1820 six new states were admitted to the Union; three "Free" states and three "Slave" states. In order to keep the Senate in perfect balance the admittance of Missouri as a "Slave" state in 1820 required the admittance of a "Free" state. As a result, Maine was admitted as a state into the Union although its population did not warrant statehood. With ever-growing anti-slavery sentiment in the North, the "Missouri Compromise" that brought both states into the Union also stipulated that Slavery was banned north of 36.5 degrees latitude.

Around the world abolitionist sentiments continued to grow. In 1834 Britain passed an act resulting in the gradual abolishing of slavery throughout the British Empire.

In 1841, in direct contravention of the "Fugitive Slave" clause of U.S. Constitution, Ohio enacted a law freeing any slaves brought into its territory.

After the Missouri Compromise of 1820 another 6 states were admitted to the Union; 3 "Free" states and 3 "Slave" states. However, another crisis was brewing. The 1849 Gold Rush in California resulted in a huge influx of settlers, speculators, and miners which meant that California had a very strong case for statehood which was granted in 1850. However, it was admitted as a "Free" state which contravened the Missouri Compromise. It also seemed likely that any new states in the West or Southwest would be "Free" states as well. This turned out to be the case with Minnesota being admitted in 1858 and Oregon in 1859, both as "Free" states. The balance between "Free" and "Slave" states had been upset and would not be restored. The future of slavery in the U.S. was increasingly at risk.

Despite growing opposition to slavery among the American people, the judiciary continued to uphold the Institution based upon the language and clauses of the Constitution.

In the 1850's Dredd Scott, a slave that had been living in "Free" states for a number of years applied to the courts for emancipation. After lengthy court proceedings and several appeals the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its judgement in March 1857. The court concluded not only that Dredd Scott would continue to be enslaved but also that any person of African descent, whether free or enslaved, could not be a citizen of the United States. This decision reinforced the status of slaves as non-citizens with essentially no rights whatsoever - in effect treating them only as property. Abolitionists throughout America were mobilized to agitate for change as they never had been before. One of the champions of this anti-slavery movement was a Congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln.

Despite his personal and consistently expressed wish that "all men everywhere could be free" Lincoln's opposition to slavery was not absolute and when he was elected President in 1860 it was not on a platform of abolishing slavery. However, it was clear that the Republican Party's super majority in Congress and the growing imbalance between "Slave" and "Free" states in the Senate would eventually result in the end of slavery in the United States. In response to what was seen to be the inevitable destruction of the Slave economy, 11 States seceded from the Union and Civil War hostilities began shortly thereafter.

The election of 1860 had significance beyond the issue of slavery in the Southern States. It also represented a dramatic shift of power away from the South, which had dominated National Politics up to that point. Abraham Lincoln received not a single Electoral College vote in the South. In fact, his name was kept off the ballot in 9 of those States which was a powerful indicator of how much control individual States had (and still have) over election procedures.

The threat of a Congressional ban on slavery also foretold a future where the central government would have much more political power than had ever been the case previously. The 10th Amendment had reinforced the notion that Federal power extended only over areas specifically delineated in the United States Constitution itself and those were very limited. If Congress could force an end to slavery over the objections of all of the Southern States, then it could be reasonably argued that States' rights were being eroded in dramatic fashion. If a president could be elected without receiving a single vote in the South, then what role could the South play in the political future of the nation?

These factors, and the over-riding desire to retain the Slave economy, convinced the majority of Southern citizens that they had the right to secede and establish a new nation.

Although the reasons for wanting to create the Confederacy are clear it is not immediately obvious why the people of the South felt such a political entity could be successful. Even more curious is the fact that the South believed they could win the Civil War against a highly industrialized North with a much larger population.