Smoke in Washington hasnât cleared â itâs billowed Updated January 6, 2021, 5:21 p.m. Email to a Friend Our Civil War âcan still be lostâ I agree with Kevin Cullen in his column âConfederate reduxâ (Metro, Jan. 5) that our moment is part of the Civil War that burned hot between 1861 and 1865 but that had brewed since the birth of our nation and that continues to divide us. The underlying issue for that ghastly military conflict was slavery, a key element in the economic development of the Republic. Slavery contradicted the ideals of the Declaration of Independence but was accepted in the Constitution. More than half a million Americans died confronting that contradiction.