And sadly, our federal government has learned nothing from the horrors of either our national civil war of 150 years ago, or the bloody disruptive foreign civil war crisis we have planned and funded in Syria.
At least in the case of our civil own civil war, we arguably claimed moral authority.
Al Queda backed rebels, creation of blood thirsty ISIS, and ruining Syria, no claim of moral authority this time around.
After the fact. There was no intention of abolishing slavery until 2 1/2 years after the war started. Had the South laid down arms within 2 1/2 years into the war, slavery would have continued as before.
Some people think the purpose of the war was to end slavery. It wasn't. The purpose of the war was to end independence for the Southern States. Ending Slavery got tagged on towards the end of the war.