The USA of today could easily have ended as more than three states - Texas could have ended independent or as part of Mexico - The southern states could have

The USA of today could easily have ended as more than three states - Texas could have ended independent or as part of Mexico - The southern states could have "won" the civil war and gained sustained sovereignty - The West & California in particular could have become an independent entity. - Alsaka might have been retained by the Russians or grabbed by the Canadians Why did this not happen - one argument is that the Federal Government of the USA gained and held control of the Californian gold fields for the decades before secession, transforming it's power and capability and the structure of the US economy. Northern industry was capitalised and the investment and market opportunity created power and capability that founded an empire, the population of New England went west anchoring the USA's presence on the west coast. If the south had seceded 20 or 25 years earlier the story would likely have been very different. With the USA split Mexico could have grabbed Texas, or parts of it - potentially the oil fields before oil was a thing. Perhaps the southern states would have managed to win and maintain territorial integrity - the USA smashed Mexico in the war in the 1840's but this would not be the USA vs Mexico. My point is that this is not inevitable - there are many reasons why the USA could have been radically different from the USA of today - that it emerged as it did was a matter of luck, as many have observed in the past: "There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. ... " Otto Von Bismarck