TYLER O’NEIL: Has the Second American Civil War Already Started? “In the years leading up to the Civil War, pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers fought and killed one another in Kansas. With the benefit of hindsight, Americans see ‘Bleeding Kansas’ as a precursor to — if not the very first tremors of — the Civil War. In one sense, the Civil War had a ‘soft opening’ in 1854, before the main event in 1861.”

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