Slavery was referred to as the "peculiar institution" because slavery was the exact contradiction to what America was founded on. America built its foundation on the notion that all men were created equally and had equal rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To enslave an individual would mean to deny them these basic human rights, undermining the very foundation of America.
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The group of people during the Civil War that were opposed to slavery were referred to as abolitionists. One of the most famous abolitionists was Benjamin Franklin, who was a leading member of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, one of the first formal organizations for abolition in the United States.
It was called the Confederate States of America, and it had a Constitution very similar to the original one, but specifically protecting slavery.
Georgia wanted to secede from the Union because they believed Abraham's Lincolns election, and republican party's were strongly and aggressively anti-slavery.
South Carolina seceded because they believed that the institution of slavery was in peril. I believe the Civil War was about states rights - that is, the states rights to maintain slavery. South Carolina was complaining about the northern states violating the Constitution by not enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. The union felt that South Carolina was independent and did not want slavery so now they are in war.
It was the mainstay of the cotton industry, which accounted for half the exports of the USA. Many Southern leaders maintained that slavery must either expand or die. As the debate heated up dangerously through the 1850's, church ministers were pressured into declaring slavery to be a perfect God-given arrangement of man and master.