I think the north showed a good bit of restraint considering they did not fire the first shots.

We as a people had allready agreed in a constitution, we had banded together against what we came to see as our former tyrants (though admitable many of them did not see themselves in such light and over time we have become best of chums) out of a nessecity to stand together or get picked off one by one by the worlds largest and most powerful military of the time.

The threat of the United States being invaded by foriegn powers was still a very real and ominious presence in the peopls minds of those days,and not only becuase of our past quarrels with the Brittish (who held actual terretory on our northern boarders).
Napolean only sold us the Liousianna purchace becuase he had been forced to abandon his invasion plans to subjectgate first the area of "New France" and then when it suited him the former Colonies. The Austrians were also on the rise as well as the Russians not to mention possible threats from by way of mexico. Allowing the country to be divided at the time and surviving simpley wasnt a foreseably good outcome at the time for eaither side, North or South. Both sides new this and planned for it too, stockpiling arms and requriting men, becuase they new if the south succeeded (like they had allmost done only a short while ago in a similar pattern before Lincoln was even in politics...war wouldnt be able to be averted by another completely onesided compromise).

I like the approach that Ian is taking, history does show a repeated pattern when it comes to these things, and evolution on a mass scale too, as much as history repeats itself (much like in biological evolution) it never quite does it exactly the same way despite following a certian pattern that even the earliest historians recognized.

So why does it seem we as a species seems to be incapable of repeating the cycle?