[x]

There was no existential threat to the North.

If the Davis regime had its way, Washington DC would be deep within Confederate territory. There would be Confederate forces 50 miles outside Philadelphia, and just a little over 100 miles from Lake Erie, poised to cut the country in half. We'd have a very long fortified border, perhaps stretching to the Pacific, and plenty of tension. How existential do you want to get?

[Ditto]

If the Davis regime had its way, Washington DC would be deep within Confederate territory. There would be Confederate forces 50 miles outside Philadelphia, and just a little over 100 miles from Lake Erie, poised to cut the country in half.

I recall reading a letter written by Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard before Sumter claiming the Confederates could cut the Union in half by invading from the Northern panhandle of then Virginia (now West Virginia) up to lake Erie.

Another example of looking at maps, not at reality.