The Cilvil War was that the southern states wanted the right it to withdraw from the United States but the Northern states would not allow it. It was since the rest of the nation had started imposing laws that many Southerners felt were states rights issues. When slavery was denied, many Southerners did not believe that their plantations could continue to function. They decided that they did not need to belong to the United States, and declared to be separate. The Civil War was about the rights of the states to make their own laws. Also, the right of the Federal Government to enforce laws imposed upon the states.