Why would divided mean conquered? I guess given the times I need to change my profile picture from the marker of an ancestor with the same name killed during the French and Indian War to the ancestor with the same name that died in the 5th South Carolina Cavalry in 1864.

The federal government may have conquered the states attempting to leave last time. This time that would be after 50 years of deficit spending and 30 years of policing the world with a population less and less willing to die for some rich politician. I don’t think enough people have the stomach to force people to stay in and the government probably can’t afford to pay them to do it at this point. No one has the capacity to invade. Not even us if there were two continents this size with as many privately owned weapons and the same population. Even split into 2-3 countries.