The Civil War highlighted the weakness of the Articles of Confederation, and the strengths of Federalism when it came to fighting a war.
Many conservatives accurately trace the beginnings of the rampant Federalism we now suffer under to this period under Lincoln. Of course, Lincoln was a great President. Because of the "disease" of slavery, we had to take some strong medicine. The medicine cured us of the disease, but the side effects are still a problem to the system.
This is the best that I've heard this expressed. While I've known this for a number of years, I never learned it in school, and expect that very few Americans do.