Why has there only been one civil war in the USA?

Question

How can 50 states and Billions of people live in harmony without wagging war on other states?

What is the political and economical elements that Unite Texas with Connecticut and Alaska with Washington D.C. and provide adequate representation for all inbetween?

How does the USA compare with Western Europe and the Middle East where war is an abundant part of their history?

So many of you are saying that USA citizens (from 1776 - 2006) number only at 300 Million??? I don't think so, we've had so many more citizens who layed this peaceful foundation ... Really you seriously think there is only 300 Million in the 230 years our country has evolved? Hmm. OK.

Answer 1

Realistically, we have only had a single civil war because military and economic power is controlled by the Federal Government, while we have numerous different states each is still part of the same government. If you look at European History, you will see the actual civil or revolutionary wars are relatively uncommon. Instead the majority of the conflicts in Europe have been between different nations, and have boiled down to conflicts over scarce resources.

Answer 2

There arent billions of people in the united states. There's somewhere near half a billion at the most. And besides, what political faction is so strong? People know the separating from the Union would mean lots and lots of bloodshed. In fact, more Americans died in the Civil War than the number of Americans in all the other wars put together. I doubt that anyone is willing to go through that again, especially with the weapons technology that we have these days. And besides, the executive government has too much power for a political faction in a few states to rise up and try and separate from the union,.

Answer 3

To begin with most Americans have developed a patriotic love for this country and tend to regard themselves as 'Americans' first, and are 'Texans' or 'Californians' as a secondary identity. Of course this wasn't always true. Before the Civil War the country was maintained because the majority of the population felt that on the whole remaining in the union was a good deal for their state. This changed when Lincoln was elected and Southerners began to feel that the political balance of power in the country was shifting decisively against them. The fact that their secession attempt was rather bloodily crushed probably also discouraged anyone from thinking that opting out was a good idea.

In general Americans as a whole tend to be prosperous and pretty well off (and yes I do realize that there are exceptions) and therefore aren't too mad at the system. There isn't a pocket of discontent large enough to make a secession attempt feasible.

Answer 4

Nearly 300 million people (as of October this year) are able to live together in the United States without being at each other's throats because our decentralized form of government allows for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Why we haven't engaged in aother civil war akin to the 1861-1865 conflict is partly because we remember how devastating it was. The South took decades to get back on its feet economically, and there are ruptures the War opened between North and South and black and white that still haven't fully healed. By and large, Americans don't seek another civil war because we probably would not survive it.

Answer 5

Wars are fought for economics. There is no significant economic differences between the states, as there was back in the Civil War days, when the needs of the agricultural south were so vastly differeent from the north.

As the country loses it's "first place" status in the ecomonic world, look for possiblities. My prediction, the north will want to secede from the south as immigration drives the middle class from the border states, and the remaining states choose to preserve it's economy. I give it 50-70 years.

Answer 6

Take religious and moral BS out of politics and how the government is run then as a nation we will transpire. Press religious ideals and beliefs into politics and there may be a civil war. Want true democracy? Have the citizens vote on everything from abortion, same sex marriage ect. as opposed to having some older generation decide it for you. If we head into a new civil war who do you blame, the citizens or the one's that supposedly speak for the masses? Me personally, I say we do away with all politicians, set new laws pertaining to term limits, campaign funds, and how money is spent, then as a nation put new leaders in place and run it as a corporation.

Answer 7

No one now adays wants to risk their own hide. I think that the thing that is holding us together is fear. If some of the terrorists or people from other countries that dislike us saw this, they would jump on the chance to see the USA destroy itself. I think that there is nothing really strong enough that would drive Connecticut to hate Texas (we all do hate you texas, you keep thinking your great... ) and cause death amongst the same country.
Its also about the times. Back in the day, the people in the south mainly heard that they were right, same with the north. But now with mass media, I believe we can see both sides of the coin.

Answer 8

For the short answer, every 4 years the US allows a political battle to control the country. Its called our presidental elections. As far as representation, that was a topic that was resolved by our founding fathers with the Connecticut Compromise, which gave us the House and Senate.

Answer 9

The war is on. It is rich vs poor. So far the poor are loosing.
One quick example- banks charge poor people (those with small account balances) huge fees for a bounced check, but people with larger average balances are not charged, although they could afford the charges.

It keeps poor people poor. Why? You have to have a pool of unemployed, or under-employed people to make capitalism work.
Imagine if there were 100% employment. You go to your boss & ask for a raise. You get it, because there is not a large group of unemployed people who would do your job cheaper.

And no, it has nothing to do with immigration. It only has to do with rich vs poor.

Answer 10

i guess we are just one big happy family, with a constitution that gives us enough leeway to agree to disagree, and a balance in the power structure that discourages outrageous power-grabs.

Europe and the Mid-East are each made up of many countries. Neither of them was ever one country with one set of goals. They may have been under the same rulers at different times, but there were still separate countries.