[smug]

there would be no US today, with at least two independent and quite possibly hostile countries occupying its territory.

Well, now I believe your wrong. But I guess that's easy to do in the realm of what might have been. I think had the war ended after say Gettysburg, with the south gaining it's independence the U.S. and C.S.A. would shortly have become sister countries with each having the others back. The south would have been forced to deal with an end to slavery, cause that genie was out of the box never to return. But as for how long the two countries would have remained close allies I cannot imagine. The U.S. without the south's stabilizing influence to offset the communist tendency's of the Northeast goes beyond my poor ability's to imagine.

[Non-Sequitur]

I think had the war ended after say Gettysburg, with the south gaining it's independence the U.S. and C.S.A. would shortly have become sister countries with each having the others back.

Oh come on. You all lost the war and 143 years later you're still pissed. Why do you think the North would have been any more adult about losing? A separation as a result of the war would have left two hostile countried staring at each other. And most likely would have led to future wars.

The south would have been forced to deal with an end to slavery, cause that genie was out of the box never to return.

With all due respect I think that's nonsense. Having fought a costly war to create a country where slave ownership was protected, I don't see the South rushing to get rid of it. What would they have replaced it with?

The U.S. without the south's stabilizing influence to offset the communist tendency's of the Northeast goes beyond my poor ability's to imagine.

So you see a drift towards socialism in the North, and I think the South's rush towards totalitarian fascism would have been rapid and irreversable. Not a pretty picture in either case.