Original sentence: The position of the Union was that the Confederacy was not a sovereign nation but instead a collection of states in revolt.This secession movement brought about the American Civil War
Edited sentence: (Critics continue to hold that this claim was never proven by law, but only suppressed by brute force and propoganda.This secession movement brought about the American Civil War, in that the position of the Union was that the states were not sovereign as individual nations, but instead that all sovereignty belonged to the Union as a whole, against which these states were engaged in revolt