There were both economic and political issues involved in the decision of Southern states to secede. The Supreme court’s decision in Dred Scott’s case spread the detonants starting in the strengthened Northern opposition to slavery, the internal divisions of Democratic Party and the reinforcement of the Republican Party which won elections with Lincoln leading them. Southern states gave their own interpretation to the supreme court’s decision and gave passage to the Kansas-Nebraska act, permitting every state to accept slavery or not . An important economic consequence was the beginning of the “Panic of 1857” crisis which started with railroads and big Northern bank collapses due to uncertainly slavery policies.
