What was the dramatic outcome of the civil war?

The final outcome and impact of the Civil War was to destroy the ambition of the South to create for itself a new, independent nation, which at the same time cemented the "indissolubility" of the Union which had been created during the American War of Independence. Equally important, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery in the United States, which was one important (if not final) step towards the establishment of the truly democratic republic of free peoples envisioned by the founders of the country.