How Was Conflict Or Consensus A Larger Factor In Shaping American History?

Throughout the course of American history, from colonists to Americans, each group had to face the trials and tribulations of multiple events that have shaped our country into the one we all know and love today. As many historians evaluate the events that shaped our malleable country, a key idea remains debated: Was conflict or consensus a larger factor in shaping American history? Conflict is defined as a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one, while consensus is defined as a general agreement upon people. When evaluating events such as early colonization, the American Revolution, and the Civil War, conflict, as well as consensus, battle head to head to gain the lead in which ideology played a bigger part. After analyzing

The year in history we’ll begin with is 1760. Currently in history, colonization has been going well, and life in the colonies was beginning to stabilize. King George III has just assumed the throne, which seemed harmless. Everyone was living in a state of peace, and in a state of international consensus. A few years later, things took a turn for the worse. The cause for the turmoil was the Seven Years War (Also known as the French and Indian war on the American Homefront). This war, “which left Britain with an enormous debt and vastly enlarged overseas possessions to defend, led successive governments in London to seek ways to make the colonies share the cost of empire” (Foner 180). The way our favorite royal highness decided to offset the cost was by taxing our colonists for essentially everything they used. Some events, like the Townsend act, which caused taxes on imported goods (which was everything, because they required everything to be exported, then reimported), and the quartering act, which forced British troops into the homes of colonists, were looked at as sort of a redundancy to colonists. The one law that drove colonists over the edge was the Stamp Act of 1765. All this enacted was the taxation on any paper good from the British, whether it be paper, packages, letters, or playing cards. As paper was a key component of most

From the beginning of colonization, slavery was a forced endeavor, in which African Americans were taken from their home country, forced to work for white colonists, and could eventually work for their freedom in the New World. At the beginning of settlement, they were seen on the same level as indentured servants. They were not treated poorly, they had many opportunities to become free, and slaves lived in consensus with white slave owners. However, as land was bought up, and space became limited, the dynamic of slavery shifted into something dark and almost unimaginable. It is said “the war became a conflict of society against society, in which the distinction between military and civilian targets often disappeared. In a war of this kind, the effectiveness of political leadership, the ability to mobilize economic resources, and a society’s willingness to keep up the fight despite setbacks are as crucial to the outcome as success or failure on individual battlefields” (Foner 521). This summary of the war shows that conflict was the only factor in the Civil War. the north and south would not agree on anything, and it created a major upset. Brothers would fight against brothers, houses would be divided, and America was at a sense of loss. If it wasn’t for the brave efforts of Abraham Lincoln and the Union, the