You guys seem to think that the Civil War was fought over slavery but that isnt it at all.
The Civil War began when Lincoln became president giving the Republican party dominance. South Carolina thought because the Republic party was anti-slavery that because they were a slave state would have no "say" in government, thus, they left the Union. After their attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln declared war on the South Caroline, and all the states that were to leave the Union as well. Now, because the Confederate States were actually beating the Union, Lincoln wrote the Emmancipation Proclomation, that did NOT free the slaves, only freed the slaves in the Confederate States, not the Union, this was only to stifle the Confederate economy so they wouldnt have money to fund the war, and it was this that caused the Union to win the war. But it was only until after the Civil War that ALL the slaves in the U.S. were free.