Break up the band
The story goes that, as the country began breaking apart in 1861, the new secretary of state, Bill Seward, approached the new president, named Lincoln, with a unique idea: Instead of watching the nation disintegrate, as the last president did, or watching the states come to blows in a civil war, why not declare war on Britain or France? Maybe a patriotic spirit would sweep across the South, and the states will stop the proceedings to leave the Union.