The year is 1860 and tensions between the Northern and Southern states are reaching a critical level. Many historians debate the true cause of the South's rapid moves toward secession. Many believe that the South seceded out of fear of angst, the growing Republican Party, the North neglecting the Constitution, and finally the issue of slavery. Professor Charles Dew believes that the conflict between the North and the South was primarily over the issue of slavery. Professor Marc Egnal, on the other hand, argues that the secession of the South was primarily determined by an economic problem between residents of the Upper South who were still loyal to the entrepreneurial perspective of the North and those who opposed a diversified economy. The question is, what was the real reason for the South's secession? In my opinion, the South seceded because of the issue of slavery, growing tensions between Northern and Southern economic beliefs, and finally government oppression of state's rights. Despite all the factual evidence supporting one aspect, the obstacle in the South was simply too complex to focus on a single topic. Professor Charles Dew has been working on the problem of Southern secession for many years. He believes that the only way to understand the Southerners' point of view is through their personal writings, such as the letters and speeches of Southern commissioners. The professor examines the written documents of the secession commissioners on the eve of the Civil War to determine their opinions on the subject of secession (334). Dew argues that his observation is different from that of other historians because he uses primary sources from the Southern commissioners. For example, Dew states: “Professor Wakelyn does not include... middle of paper ...... graphic. Egnal states, “The other group, whose strength lay in the southern reaches of the lower South, defended an economy focused on slaves, cotton, and rice” (349). Therefore, the South depended on slavery to run its agricultural economy. The question of what caused the South to secede may never be fully answered. The best way to understand what really happened is to look at all sides of the story. Historians have grappled with ideas of slavery, economics, republicanism, and anxiety. The truth is that all of these ideas could be the answer to what caused the South's rapid aggression. We can see Professor Dew and Professor Egnal emphasizing different aspects, but they are both linked by the nexus of economics. Overall, Southern secession was not caused by a single conflict; but a set of problems that have come together.