The consequences of it are still with us. Washington DC became a power never envisioned by the founders as a consequence of that war. Pretty much every overreach by Washington DC is tolerated because they established supremacy through that war.
You agree with Gore Vidal who thought the union success in the war created an empire. Gore, despite himself, had southern sympathies and wrote brilliantly on Lincoln and the war. I recommend his essays and novels on the subject.
I think what bothers me on FR, though, is the exquisite pc-ness affected by some people here over the issue of slavery. They reduce the whole war to that one issue - which is obviously not correct. But it makes people feel so...exquisite.