America went through a bloody civil war, caused by the Southern States deliberately rebelling against the Northern Union; this despite the fact that President Lincoln made it very clear in his first Inaugural address which specifically addressed the most salient concerns of those Southern States, stating that "the government will not assail you," without first those Southern States themselves being the actual instigators and aggressors to such; in addition Lincoln expressed that as President of this Union of States that he had the solemn oath to "preserve, protect, and defend" that Union, in which through a fair election, Lincoln was fairly elected; and of which those that lost that fair election, decided that they would not accept such and therefore they turned instead to outright violence to protect what they considered to be their most precious as well as their most peculiar institution.
And so the war came; and that civil war exceeded both the length of time that informed pundits believed such a war could or would be, with correspondingly incredible sacrifices by both sides throughout this war, with much violence and countless tragic deaths, as well as wholesale destruction and mayhem, of which virtually nobody believed this could or ever would be possible, yet this do so come. Both sides believed that they were following God's will, of which, what was actually learned by each, was that though both sides were correct in believing in that will of God, they were each incorrect in their respective belief of what that will was; for each side did not recognize that God is forever just and that everything so rendered by God in this world, is forever righteous.
So then, as it has been written, the wages of sin is death. So that, if the slavery and the wresting away of another man's bread and his hard and unrequited labor is considered to be that sin; it can surely be expected that mankind's payment for that sin is going to necessitate a meaningful sacrifice to it. There are, despite what mankind might wish to think, no free rides within the world of God's justice, and none get off scot-free from that which has been knowingly done as a selfish and self-serving disservice to our fellow brothers and sisters in this world.
Far too often, mankind wishes for that easy road, without taking into account, that those wrong and dangerous roads that meander and collide all over the place, and thereby create all sorts of strife, conflict, hatred, trouble, violence, and disputes, cannot be suddenly changed into that straight and narrow path, without a corresponding amount of collective sacrifice to that which is needed to thereby make what should be right, to be right. Every violent lash upon the back of one's fellow man, is a lash that not only leaves a lasting scar upon he who is innocent, but it also is a lash that cannot ever be taken back, which is why that which is wrong, must pay the price, for its transformation into that which is right.
Every country, as well as every individual should fearfully tremble at the knowing that God's justice does not and will not slumber forever, and further that our immutable and omniscient God is always and always will be absolutely just.