The United States is currently in a state of civil strife that tracks with historical markers preceding revolutions or civil wars.

“what we are seeing in the United States tracks alongside in very similar ways what happened to a lot of other countries pre-revolution, pre- civil war, or even international conflict.”

The Civil War was not inevitable, but rather a sequence of events where conditions were present to make it possible.

“I don't know if anything is inevitable in history, but it's certainly safe to say that the conditions were in place to make it possible- ... by the winter of 1860, '61, and the conditions that made it possible were all related to the institution of slavery”

Slavery was the central and fundamental cause of the American Civil War.

“It's sometimes said, "Oh, the Civil War wasn't just about slavery, blah blah blah blah blah." I mean, it might not just have been about slavery, but slavery was always at the heart of it.”

The Civil War was caused by a deliberate effort of elite enslavers to overthrow the government to preserve a society based on enslavement, which Lincoln and his allies successfully fought back.

“this is a concerted effort to make this nation an enslaving Nation everywhere and I could also walk you through how that worked but I think today that point is just that he named it and he said listen we're in this together to fight this back”