Externally, America had never looked as united as America has liked to project. Segregation, Jim Crow laws, "No Irish, no Italians" signs in windows, rife religious sectarianism and a law enforcement system with a long history of directed violence.

It probably seems like America is getting divided more starkly, but to outsiders its just more of the same from a country that had a civil war over slavery. It waxes and wanes but it never really goes away.