I'm a Russian schoolboy, people living in the USA tell me it's true. This is a text from my history textbook.

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After the adoption of the Constitution, armed clashes began. In some places, a real civil war was underway. It escalated, at least to a certain extent.

A. Lincoln.

What were the main causes of the Civil War?

The Civil War of 1861–1865. Following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 (1860–1865), 11 states decided to secede from the United States and establish the Confederate States of America as a separate nation. The Civil War began in April 1861 with the Southern attack on Fort Sumter.

By the start of the war, the North had more than twice the population of the South and possessed a vastly larger industrial base. Northerners also had better infrastructure and access to resources, and they could mobilize more troops and produce more weapons. They also had many talented generals. However, the “Southern gentlemen” were skilled horsemen and marksmen, led by General R. E. Lee.

Many residents of the Northern states sympathized with the Southerners, considering slavery the natural state of Black people. Some secretly traded with the South, while others spied on its behalf. But the Southerners miscalculated in expecting help from England, which used Southern cotton in its industries. Thanks to large harvests in previous years, English warehouses were overflowing with this raw material. Lacking a significant political incentive, London refrained from direct intervention in the conflict.

In 1862, the second phase of the war began. Facing military challenges and seeking to gain stronger support from the population of the Union states, Lincoln and the Republican Party passed the Homestead Act in 1862. This act provided a radical solution to the agrarian issue: any U.S. citizen over the age of 21 could become the owner of a 160‑acre plot (approximately 60 hectares; for reference, this is the area of about 90 football fields) by paying a nominal fee. After 5 years of use, the plot would become the full property of the owner.