The outcome of the American Civil War (1861-1865) was the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery in the United States. The conflict was primarily rooted in issues of states' rights and slavery, culminating in a violent struggle between the northern states (the Union) and the southern states (the Confederacy). The war concluded with the defeat of the Confederacy, marked by significant battles and key events such as Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which declared freedom for enslaved people in rebel states. The post-war Reconstruction Era aimed to reintegrate the southern states into the Union and address the rights of newly freed African Americans, profoundly impacting American society.