What events led up to the American civil war?

The one with Robert E. Lee and the Battle of Antietam, and any info on that battle also would be nice. This is an easy 10 pts for any history buffs out there,not many people respond to these questions correctly.

What events led up to the American civil war?performing arts center

You could argue alot of things, but I think the Kansas-Nebraska Act was huge in instigating the War, and the final nail in the coffin was the election of the greatest President this country ever had...Abraham Lincoln.

What events led up to the American civil war?sunshine opera theater

Well, then...why don't you Google it for the correct answers?
John Brown's rebellion. There were not really just a few events that led up to it, but hundreds of little events that eventually built up over time. The start of the civil war had very little to do with slavery, it started with the southern cessation after the election of Lincoln. The south considered this the last straw in a political battle to control congress and the slave trade. The northern politicians wanted to abolish it because it favored their view of industry which was much more urban, while the south favored the plantations because it didn't have the cities and labor force that the north did.
It was over state's rights. The south tried to break away from the north because they wanted the individual states to have rights and the north believed the federal government should have the final say. The north fought to bring the country back together after the south tried to break away. Because of Big Bad Abraham. Slavery was one of the issues but it is not the main reason for the civil war.
The north put a tariff on European goods, because Europe's manufactured goods were cheaper than American goods even if you factor in the shipping costs. Since the north also controlled the costs of everything, (They'd say we'll pay you this much for your produce, and sell you a plow for this much...) the south was going broke pretty fast. They wanted to break from the Union to be able to deal directly with countries in Europe. The common people of the Union actually didn't care if the southern states left, but the northern states at the time didn't have that much farmland (the great plains states weren't settled then) so the north couldn't really afford to let the south break away. The powers that be of the time brought up the slavery issue to stir support for the war. I'm not condoning slavery in any way shape or form, but it was actually a minor issue compared to the import tax.
Antietam was fought after the war had begun. The most elemental answer to your question is that the south believed that states rights took precedent over congress plans to bring an end to slavery. To the south, it was a direct affront to the very reason the US broke away from England; to the north, it meant defiance of the duly elected congress that represented the people. While slavery was a big issue, it was not, as the public school history books would have you believe, the south's insitance that slavery be kept at all costs. In fact, there were more slave OWNERS in the north at that time. The southern states felt that by freeing the slaves the economic engine would freeze without so much free labor to fuel it, which indeed proved to be the case as the southern economy did not fully recover until the early 1950's. The final straw was the election of Lincoln, which the south considered the final nail for southern states rights. Strange as Lincoln, had he not been assinated, could have been the souths biggest supporter during reconstruction. President Lincoln himself, (a slave owner), even stated before fighting broke out that he would support slavery if it meant not dividing the union. (footnote: one of his plans was to ship the freed slaves back to Africa after the war --- weird, eh?)
I believe besides slavery, 2 major contributing factors were the high tariffs the U.S. was charging for cotton, which hurt North Carolina immensely, and the disparity between industrialization of the north and industrialization (or lack of) of the south.