<P> Issues of the American Civil War include questions about the name of the war, the tariff, states' rights and the nature of Abraham Lincoln's war goals . For more on naming, see Naming the American Civil War . </P> <P> The question of how important the tariff was in causing the war stems from the Nullification Crisis, which was South Carolina's attempt to nullify a tariff and lasted from 1828 to 1832 . The tariff was low after 1846, and the tariff issue faded into the background by 1860 when secession began . States' rights was the justification for nullification and later secession . The most controversial right claimed by Southern states was the alleged right of Southerners to spread slavery into territories owned by the United States . </P>

What constitutional issues were in dispute during the civil war