Hello everybody.

I was reading about the history of North America, and I was wondering why the countries in South America, after they became independant, chose to separate from each other. I know in North America Texas was independant, Vermont also independant for a while, and there could have been some country named Cascadia in north-west US/Canada.

But as there are so many cultures and such in North America, why did these regions chose to unify? Did the Union force its neighbours? Why didn't Canada split after independance?