The majority of speculation regarding the causes of the American Civil War has to do with slavery. While slavery was a factor in the disagreements that led to the Civil War, it was not the sole or primary cause. There were three other, more important causes that contributed more directly to the beginning of the secession of the Southern states and, ultimately, to the outbreak of war. These three causes included economic and social differences between the North and South, state's rights versus national rights, and the Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case. Each of these causes involved slavery in some way, but was not exclusively based on slavery. The North and South were completely different economies, and therefore completely different geographies, from each other during the period of the Industrial Revolution and just before the Civil War. . The Northern economy was based primarily on industrialization that came from the formation of the American system, which produced large quantities of goods in factories. The North was becoming much more urbanized due to the location of factories in cities, near major rail networks for transporting goods, as well as the movement of large groups of factory workers to cities to be closer to their homes. work. With the increase in the rate of job opportunities in the North, many people from different ethnic groups and social classes have come to work together. This triggered the demise of the Northern social order. The South was not urbanizing as quickly as the North and so social order still existed; The South's economy was based on cotton production after the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney. The production of large cotton plantations accounted for the bulk of American production...... middle of paper ....... It Was Not About Slavery,” Confederate Veteran, 20 (September /October 2010) Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, Susan M. Hartmann. Understanding the American Promise, Volume I, Chapter 14. Bedford/St. Martin's. Symonds, Craig. “American Civil War (1861-1865),” New York Times. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857. “Important from Montgomery; Inauguration of Jefferson Davis as president of the Southern Confederacy. His inaugural speech. Policy of the New Government Foreshadowed,” New York Times, February 19, 1861. “Secession A Southern Convention Amendment to the Constitution,” New York Times, November 19, 1860. “The Slavery Question in the Southern States,” The New York Times, october 3, 1859.