As a point of fact, they didn't. The war destroyed the "Union" as it was known before the war and replaced it with a centralized empire.
...which went on to save the World, twice, and provide for its citizens (including you and me) and the Free World a higher degree of freedom and material prosperity than humanity has ever known.
Call me a proud Citizen
I know you would call prob'ly call me a "Dupe", 'mongst other things...
Not as high a degree of freedom as was enjoyed BEFORE the Civil War.
And, no, America did not save the world twice. Our unnecessary entry into WW I took a European conflict that was more or less at a stalemate and tipped the balance away from the Germans. Our entry prompted the Germans to send Lenin to Russia in hopes of ending the war there and freeing those troops to end the war in the West before the Americans arrived in force. Our troops provided the margin for victory in the west and our subsequent withdrawal from the peace process set the stage for the monstrously unfair treaty that directly lead to Hitler and the NAZIs.
Lots to be proud of as an American, but no, we didn't save the world. Our abandonment of our principles of nonintervention in order to go to Europe in 1917 damned near ended it.
