riddle - separate with a riddle, as grain from chaff screen sift, sieve, strain - separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements; sift the flour
Causes of the Civil War: Bleeding Kansas. Proposed by Sen. Stephen Douglas of Illinois, the Kansas-Nebraska Act essentially repealed the line imposed by the Missouri Compromise. Douglas, an ardent believer in grassroots democracy, felt that all the territories should be subject to popular sovereignty.
The only cause of the war was that the South was invaded and responded to Northern aggression. I respectfully disagree with those who claim that the War Between the States was fought over slavery or that the abolition of slavery in the Revolutionary Era or early Federal period would have prevented war.