The Causes of the Civil War

Pre-Covid, I ran a meetup "American History Meetup". We alternated between Saturdays in a bar/restaurant and midweek in a public space in Midtown.
We had our first meetup last Saturday and there's an audience for that time/place. I scheduled this midweek meetup to test your interest in a different time/place. Some people can't make weekends; others week nights. I hope to draw a balance.
If you look at my previous write-ups you can get a general idea of the objective of these meetups i.e. what can we learn from history to understand the current situation. I think civil wars, revolutions or a global war are all within the realm of possibility. But doom scrolling is boring. I want to see if we can learn lessons from the past to better prepare us for the future.
The period before the US Civil War has some parallels to where we are today. That's what we will explore on Wednesday. If you are a Civil War buff, stop by on Wednesday.
Format: My job is to give an overview of the topic and then keep the conversation on point. There won't be a long dissertation.