Can division actually strengthen a community? Let’s examine America’s history to see. America has journeyed through two major divisions during its history. The first was a division from Britain, gaining its independence and creating a new nation. The people were divided into loyalists and revolutionaries. America emerged as a prosperous independent nation, united in strength. The second was an internal division between the North and South within its own boundaries during the American Civil War. The people again were divided, yet the nation again emerged united and stronger than before. Both were tough battles, testing the strength of the people. America prevailed through both, the American Revolution and the American Civil War, giving way to a strengthened nation that has continued to prosper.
America began as a British colony; with financing from companies such as the Virginia Company, settlers were sent to America to enhance the wealth of England and the investors. Survival was difficult for the initial settlers, yet they succeeded in discovering a crop that would make the investors prosper. Tobacco became an extremely prosperous crop in the Virginia colony, enticing the Virginia Company to encourage more Englanders to relocate there. The Virginia Company offered incentives of free land and self-government to anyone willing to relocate to Virginia; however, the land became the property of the person paying for the trip and the House of Burgesses which became the established governing body was limited to only large land owners. With the growing tobacco industry, settlers relied on indentured servants for labor. The indentured servants received a free trip to the Virginia colony in return for seven years of unpaid labor. The indentured servants in the northern colonies had a better life; therefore, making it harder for the Virginia colony to attract enough indentured servants to farm the plantations; yet with the decrease in death rate in the Virginia colony, the number of indentured servants who had completed their contracts to gain freedom increased. With the increased number of free indentured servants, good farmland in Virginia became scarce, creating bitterness in the freedmen. This bitterness with the aid of Nathaniel Bacon led to a rebellion in 1676 against the House of Burgesses and Governor Berkley. The rebellion began when the freedmen encroached on Native Indian territory initiating a battle with the Indians that would end in loss of life on both sides. Governor Berkley was accused of siding with the Indians which caused the freedmen to declare the government corrupt and burn down the House of Burgesses. After Bacon’s death, the governor returned to restore order. This rebellion enticed the Virginia planters to turn towards slavery to avoid any future discontent and conflict with freedmen.
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As the industry continued to grow, the labor force in the Virginia colony switched from indentured servants to slaves from Africa. The northern colony of Massachusetts was settled by Puritans; it was a more merchant and industrial-based society rather than farming since the land was not suitable for most crops. The Massachusetts colony underwent its own turmoil as it developed with a few breaking away from the strict Puritan traditions and becoming exiled from the colony such as Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. The Massachusetts colony also struggled with rumblings of witchcraft. I believe these differences between the colonies of the North and South helped discourage unification enabling England to remain in control of the colonies; however, with the emergence of the “American Identity” through lack of free land, immigration, and the Enlightenment, England control over the colonies will begin to diminish.
Many events contributed to the American Revolution, but four events, in particular, stand out to me as major causes. The first event I attribute to the American Revolution is the French and Indian War of 1756-1763. Also known as the Seven Year’s War, this conflict forced colonial militia to fight side by side with the British military. The American militia was much different from the British military, being less organized and not including ranking systems. Fighting alongside one another brought the vast differences between the colonial way of thinking and the British way of thinking to light; frustrating both units and initiating discontent in the colonists with British rule. During the war England basically turned all attention to the war neglecting the colonists; however, at the conclusion of the war, Britain wanted to enhance control over the colonists which was not received well in the colonies. The second major event that I attribute to the American Revolution was when King George III wanted to prevent westward expansion to reduce costs; therefore, he issued the “Proclamation of 1763” which banned colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. This infuriated the colonists, they had fought alongside British soldiers for that land and were now prevented from capitalizing on it. Furthermore, the colonists had originally come to the new land on the promise of receiving land, which existing land was scarce and now Britain was refusing to allow migration west. Thirdly, the British government proceeded to issue a series of taxes to the colonies such as The Stamp Act of 1764, The Townsend Act of 1767, and the Tea Act of 1773. The colonies did not feel that Britain had the right to tax them; they felt unrepresented in the British Government. The Stamp Act declare the necessity for a stamp to be placed on official documents that had to be purchased from stamp collectors. The colonies refused and Britain relinquished the Stamp Act. The Townsend Act imposed a tax on trade, but again the colonists refused. The British government repealed the Townsend Act. The Tea Act granted the East India Company the right to a monopoly for colonial tea sales. This initiated the “Boston Tea Party” during which the Sons of Liberty, suited as Indians, climbed aboard three vessels and destroyed all the tea by throwing it into the harbor. The British government in turn announced the Coercive Acts of 1774 which were initiated to punish Boston for the loss of the tea and prevent the spreading of disobedience to the other colonies but actually became the final push to unite the colonies into revolution. The other colonies sympathized with Boston, collectively creating the Continental Congress in September 1774 that finally united the colonies against British rule. Fighting between the British and the colonists erupted with the Battle of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 and the American Declaration of Independence was drafted in July 1776; the American Revolution was now in full swing. The American colonies prevailed forming a new nation, The United States of America.
As a new nation, the first order of business was to create a government that represented all the people. The citizens of the United States of America did not want a very strong central government, they wanted the states to have control. The first attempt at a government came in the form of the “Articles of Confederation”, which created a small unicameral body with each state having one vote and a 2/3 majority required to pass legislation. Shays’ Rebellion in 1786 showed that such a weak central government was not going to suffice to maintain order within the new nation. Western farmers were behind on their mortgages and the banks blocked debtor relief in the state legislatures creating risks of foreclosures for the farmers. Daniel Shays and a group of farmers drew up arms and stormed the county courthouses demanding debtor relief. The rebellion was stopped and the persecutors were punished; however, this showed the defenselessness of the current central government. Hence, it was determined that the “Articles of Confederation” needed revision. The Constitutional Convention, consisting of 55 delegates, met in Philadelphia in 1787. They decided to create a new government instead of revising the existing one; therefore drafting the United States Constitution. Many issues had to be resolved during the creation of the Constitution such as how to count slaves, how to split power between the states and the federal government, and how to balance the federal government to include adequate checks and balances. The Constitution created three branches of the central government: executive, legislative, and judiciary. Each had certain controls other the other to protect against any one branch is too powerful. The legislative branch was further broken into a bicameral congress. Once complete, a “Bill of Rights” was added to the Constitution to ensure the protection of the citizen’s rights and liberties. The Constitution was ratified placing a new central government in charge. Interpretation of the Constitution was split on whether it stated what the government could or could not do; hence, the emergence of political parties arose. The United States territory expanded immensely with the Louisiana Purchase while economic growth skyrocketed as well. Water was the primary source of transporting goods to the United States constructed man-made canals in dry spots that did not contain suitable transportation methods; one example being the Erie Canal created in 1825. In the 19th century, the United States witnessed agricultural and industrial revolutions where the agricultural economy expanded greatly and manufacturing produced an industrial economy. Factories were manned by mill girls who were overworked and underpaid, who eventually went on strike. With the strike failing to improve conditions, the mill girls became scarce paving the road for the development of the middle class. The middle class manned the factories and obtained the little potential to advance. The agriculture of the South expanded tremendously with cotton as the primary crop, which increased the need for slave labor; slavery prospered in the South. Slaves were considered property and were treated horrendously, especially in the South. Frederick Douglas wrote an autobiography on his life as a slave showing the harsh treatment of slaves and pointing out the difference in treatment between northern and southern slaves. The northern slaves although still property was not beaten and starved like their fellow slaves of the south. Even with the United States freshly formed and prospering greatly, differences between the North and the South began to rip the nation apart.
Many factors contributed to the Civil War: the emergence of political parties after the ratification of the Constitution and disagreement over slavery issues were a few. The emergence of two distinct political parties due to how the Constitution was perceived produced a split in the way Americans thought. Citizens would side with one or the other; hence, dividing the people. This set the stage for two distinct sides in a civil war; however, the biggest problem was slavery. Many people had turned against slavery, yet the South continued to increase its slave labor forces. Slavery began ripping the nation in two; those for slavery and those against it. Frederick Douglas delivered a speech in 1852 in defamation of “Independence Day” stating that it did not free all Americans for the slaves were still in chains; his speech stirred antislavery thoughts in many. William Lloyd Garrison denounced slavery, stating that it would eventually strip rights from all Americans posing fear in the hearts of many. First to go was the freedom of speech. In 1830, the state of Connecticut banned public speeches on antislavery; while in 1835, a mob stormed a post office in Charleston burning copies of the Liberator. These events showed the demise of the freedom of speech for the American people. The freedom of life followed suit in leading to the American civil war. In 1837, a mob entered Elijah Lovejoy’s newspaper office and shot him several times causing his death; hence, removing the freedom of life for the American people. Now the people could see their rights being removed due to slavery. With the Dred Scott decision of 1857 taking the side of the slave owner, declaring Dred Scott property and unable to sue in a court of law as well as declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, the antislavery groups could now see that compromise was an option. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 established a latitude line to divide the slave states from the free states. The time had come to admit that the United States would either need to become fully slave-oriented or fully free, division was no longer an option; hence forecasting the American Civil War. The civil war was a harrowing war, placing brother against brother. In the end, the North prevailed and slavery was abolished in the United States of America; which was just the initial step in the journey toward racial equality within its borders.
America not only had to overcome the powerful hold of Britain through the American Revolution but had to overcome the division of itself through the American Civil War.
America was not always a unified nation, nor was its settlement initially geared towards such. America was originally established to remain an extension of Britain to increase Britain’s wealth. Distance and discontent reared their head, giving way to thoughts of independence; leading to the emergence of a new nation. This new nation struggled with the creation of an acceptable government and disagreements between the people, leading to a division of the nation and a series of bloody battles. Through it all, America prevailed giving way to a unified, stronger nation.
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