I have to take issue here. I think that weikel is right. The right of ANY state to secede was part of the Confederate constitution. That means that any time that a Governor gets a hair up his butt, the state would secede for the Confederacy. There would be no unity in the Confederacy, and eventually, it would fail. War amongst the sucessionist states would be likely as tensions mount over water, borders, a woman....whatever.
The very weak US would not have been able to intervene to stop it. It would be a VERY different world than we live in now, and most certainly not for the better....
And you don't think this nation came close to that at least one time in the early 19th century? States argued, as they were wont to do, and several threatened secession unless they got their way. And believe it or not, not one war until lincoln wanted his money from Charleston