To what extent was slavery the cause of the Civil War? An important factor, but not the only one. Slavery has always been an issue since the country's founding in 1776 and was one of the main reasons for the war, but other elements contributed. One of the causes that led to the Civil War was the invention of Cotton Gin, by Eli Whitney. When the cotton gin was invented, it helped cotton plantations successfully extract seeds from cotton bolls, going from about a pound per day by a single person to 50 pounds per day. The Northern states depended on cotton from the Southern states, and the Southern states depended on manufactured goods, credit, and transportation from the Northern states. The Southern states relied on nearly 4 million slaves to help them with their crops and were in dire need of slavery, while the Northern states were not as dependent and viewed it in a completely opposite way. that of the South. One of the issues that led to the Civil War. It was the end of the Mexican War and popular sovereignty. With the Compromise of 1850 allowing California to be a free state and giving Utah and New Mexico the choice to decide whether they wanted to be a free state or a slave state. Before the Civil War, many abolitionist activities could have been considered. determining factors. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required government officials to arrest any escaped slave and increased the participation of the Underground Railroad in helping slaves escape to Canada. The novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was written in 1852 and offers a very accurate description of life as a slave. The Mini Civil War in Kansas, better known as Bleeding Kansas, contributed to the creation of slaves in the South. The role of women in the early to mid-19th century. took an active role in asserting their independence in the early to mid-19th century by targeting acts that threatened their family lives. Some examples of these threats were prostitution, excessive drinking and gambling, illiteracy, and even slavery. Some of the changes taking place at the time affected family and gender roles. The factory system is an example of changing social attitudes. More and more women in urban and black areas were leaving the home in search of outside work, to earn even the minimum income necessary to stay afloat. Women also left the home to join reform societies such as the New York Female Moral Reform Society, a group whose mission was to help put an end to such activities that encroached on their healthy family lives..