The document summarizes the events leading up to and during the American Civil War from 1860-1865. It discusses Southern secession after Lincoln's election, failed compromise attempts, the formation of the Confederate States, and key battles such as Fort Sumter, which marked the start of the war. The war was the world's first "total war" and had enormous social, political, and economic impacts, including the end of slavery and strengthened federal power. The turning point was 1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation reframed the war as being about ending slavery and the Union gained momentum on the battlefield.