Editing American Civil War (section)

{{Important}}[[File:USA Map 1864 including Civil War Divisions.png|thumb|300px|right]] 
{{Quote|In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more involved in this contest than is realized by everyone.|Abraham Lincoln}}The '''American Civil War''' ('''ACW'''), also known as the '''War between the States''' or simply the '''Civil War''' and incorrectly referred to by neo-Confederates as the '''War of Northern Aggression''', was the America version of [[Civil War|civil war]] fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern slave states that declared their secession and formed the [[Confederate States of America]] (the "Confederacy" or the "South"). The war had its origin in the fractious issue of [[slavery]], especially the extension of slavery into the western territories. Foreign powers did not intervene. After four years of bloody combat that left over 600,000 soldiers dead and destroyed much of the South's infrastructure, the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and the difficult Reconstruction process of restoring national unity and guaranteeing rights to the freed slaves began.