Slavery was never settled entirely in CW 1. Hence Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Acts.

CW II, just like WWII, has to conclude the original conflict.

You appear to be confusing the original method of election of Senators (appointment/election by State legislatures, changed to direct election early in the 20th century) with the Electoral College. The original idea was that the voters would elect a slate of Electors who would then proceed to make independent decisions, but it pretty quickly evolved into a system where voting for a particular set of Electors meant that those Electors were pledged to elect a specific candidate. So yes, American presidential elections have been quasi-direct for some time.

Surely in 1848 very few Americans had voted in a presidential election. Then as now the President was elected by the Electoral College, and then members of the Electoral College were appointed by State Senates without any popular vote. Or so I thought.

There are many fracture lines, too many to list, but IMO the primary fault line has 4 components. The socialist totalitarians, the stubborn clingers to the rule of law under the Constitution, the Beltway dandys, and the I don’t want to think about practical matters just gimme what I want. It seems to me Trump has demonstrated, unintentionally, there is no possibility of an eventual reconciliation.

Actually, only the jihad gang, with relentless attacks on the homeland, with tens of thousands of victims, can serve as the alarm clock.

We shall be torn asunder. It is just a question of what is the time frame. Obama/Hillary-Trump are joined at the hip in a Godzilla-Mechagodzilla manner with Bernie as a Mothra comedic sidekick. Expect much destruction beyond anything experienced by Tokyo. Seriously.

Barry was totally unaware of the unintended consequences of his “fundamental transformation”.

A civil war over slavery at least had a credible rationale (lamentable though it was in every way).
What issue these days would have enough moral and social weight to serve as a cause for actual war?
Even unbounded illegal immigration doesn’t make the cut.

A show-down between the Jihadis, and their Islamicist enablers, and the defenders of American liberties might.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has something to say on the subject.

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/In-defense-of-dissidence-8438

All we can do is hope that the narcissistic @sshat will be worth it.

— Hart Crane.