Eald enta geweorc. 
Megalith shmegalith. You want to see big stone circles, you go to Avebury. 
Polycarp: “Ancient giants did it”? /blatant guess
I think that, in a way, many Americans believe that their Constitution is their country.
I’m biased, but I’ll go for Great Britain. Yes, our government has evolved - but so has America’s. And both have evolved more or less peacefully. How many constitutional amendments has America had? We had our last major Civil War in the 1600s whereas America had hers in the late 1800s.
How is being “completely unskilled in war” an asset? The only possible answer I can think of is that someone more skilled at war would have decided to screw it and let the CSA go – but that would only make sense if subduing the CSA was in fact impossible, which clearly turned out not to be the case.
Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, was skilled at war. He was a graduate of West Point, a lieutenant in the US army, a colonel in the Mississippi militia during the Mexican war (and a hero at the battles of Fort Teneria and Buena Vista), and was Secretary of War under President Pierce.
However, this knowledge of war served him badly during his time as President of the CSA, because, since he was so military, he always second guessed his generals, argued with them, and kept them on a short leash.
Lincoln, who had almost no military experience, or knowledge, tended not to micromanage the army as much, trusting in his generals to do the right thing.
Hmmm… my previous post may seem like a bit of a contradiction, given the reference to the American Civil War. I should, of course, have bolded the more or less. But my point was that generally, both Americans and Britons have found their own solutions to their own problems, and apart from the odd instance, done it peacefully - after their foundations, of course as the pretty violent English Civil War established the supremacy of Parliament over the Crown and the pretty violent American War of Independence established American independence from Britain.
Well, he left McClellan in, which was a bad thing, which dragged the war out, which meant that when it ended, the South was really beat, and not likely to rise again.
… That’s all I got.
Putting McClellan in was considered a good idea all around the North the first time, and Little Mac was a great organizer during the war. The Second time, Lincoln out him in simply because there was no one else. Despite his general uselessness, the soldiers opted for McClellan over his even-more incompetent replacements.
They weren’t conscripted off the boat, though in a few cases they were kidnapped by the kind of shady draft-dodge operators who caused so much trouble for both sides. IIRC, the draft didn’t affect non-citizens in the North.
It did in the South, which got to be a huge problem. People often fled the South rather than be drafted. Plus, many were expert German artisans, who were critical to the South’s war production of swords and guns.