What this article misses is the fact that slavery was an intricate part of the economic system of the country — not just the South. The southern economy would be nonexistent outside of free labor. Also, the author of this article misses the fact that there were indeed FREE people of African descent througout the US at the time of the Civil War. If you purport to give an unbiased view, you should also quote from scholars who have authored books from the perspective of the African diaspora enslaved in this country. Well, history belongs to the ones telling the story I suppose.