Here’s an interesting exercise in alternate history: What if every time a separatist movement arose in North America, it succeeded? The Strange Maps blog features a map that redraws the face of the continent to feature this balkanization. What if Napoleon had refused the Louisiana Purchase? What if the Mormons had founded the state of Deseret?
It’s interesting to see that in this alternate timeline, the South wins the Civil War, as usual. Apparently some things never change.