Our country was divided because we were becoming independent in terms of economics much like Germany in World War II. This war was brought on in order to divide the United States. Whether the Union or the Confederacy was the right side doesn't matter because we were seperated for the sole purpose of weakening us and controlling us easier. We may have not gotten a central bank until Wilson, but the damage was done with newly freed slaves and both sides being beaten during the war. Reconstruction, the railroads, everything was done in order to weaken us.