Central to all issues which caused the Civil War was that of slavery. The institution, which both exploited and dehumanized millions of African-Americans, polarized the country. Many defended it's existence arguing that that slavery was integral to the economy and culture of Southern States, where the institution thrived.
Others believed that the enslavement of African-Americans was immoral and cruel, wholly incompatible the concept of liberty as worded in the United States Constitution.
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the United States. and Charleston became a city of revolutionary zeal. The garrison commander of Fort Sumter, an uncompleted masonry fort guarding the harbour refused to turn the fort over to the state. It was intolerable to the people of South Carolina to have a foreign fortification menacing their main harbour, and they were forced to fire upon it to prevent its resupply.
Thus began the most destructive of American wars and Charleston endured 3 years of Federal siege. The wealth was gone, and efforts were focused on just maintaining the status quo. There was no money to tear down the old, and so modern Charleston has inherited a beautiful and well preserved historic district.
The slave issue rumbled on with States passing their own laws until 1865 when slavery was abolished in the U.S. by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
