The economic reason for the civil war was the taxes on imported and exported goods. The tariffs that the national government put on imported and exported goods affected the Southern economy, but benefited the Northern economy. This added tensions between the Union and the Southern states. The southern economy depended on selling cotton overseas, but the North had become very industrialized, and their profits went down when trading with England and other European countries was so easy, so the U.S. put taxes on importing and exporting goods to encourage trade between the sections of the country.
Slavery was the moral issue in the Civil War. Most people in the North
wanted to abolish slavery, while the Southern society and economy heavily depended on it. There were debate over whether new states entering the union should be slave or free, especially as in the years before the civil war, the number of Senators from slave and free states were equal, and each side wanted to prevent the other from having an advantage.
The French and Indian War, which took place between 1754-1763, began due to a conflict between England and France over control of the Ohio River Valley. Both sides wanted the valley so they could expand their settlements into the area.
There were two different approaches to Reconstruction. Presidential Reconstruction was the approach that promoted more leniency towards the South regarding plans for readmission to the Union. Congressional Reconstruction blamed the South and wanted retribution for causing the Civil War.