Was civil war avoidable?

Answer 1

It was avoidable, either by just letting the Southern States leave, or by the industrial North taking their share of the taxes for supporting the small Federal government, which ran off the tariffs and taxes that came from agricultural South. This was the REAL cause of the war. Slavery was a different issue only just slightly related to the others. It's just easier for troublemaking politicians to get the public angry over slavery than taxes and tariffs they don't understand. If political parties wanted to avoid a war, they could have come up with more compromises and popular sovereignty votes.