This is a topic that is rarely if ever covered in college classes, or via journalists/historians today. So I'll offer a short introduction to a topic which we ought to be thinking over.
When you look at 13 colony 'states' in this 1750/1760 era....you have to remember that they were 13 different societies that were grouped only by the idea that they'd left Europe, and brought a particular way of thinking along with them. They were NOT united in any sense.
It would be accurate to say that the thirteen each had a 'company' behind them in the original period, and the company specialized in particular clients.
For example, Maryland was found in 1634 by Lord Baltimore (Cecil Calvert), and his agenda was to find able-bodied and adventurous Catholics....then getting to the region of Maryland. It would be accurate to say that Catholics had a particular view of the world, of ethics, of society existing in harmony, and some appreciation of arts/education.
Delaware? It was founded by Peter Minuit (well to do Belgium guy). He founded the colony with his company (New Sweden) in 1638. Minuit is noted for arranging a deal to buy the region of Manhattan from the Indians in the region. For this region of Delaware....the start-up were mostly Swedes. They weren't aristocratic or intellectual types....they were simply farmers.
Georgia? It was founded by James Edward Oglethorpe (a Brit), in 1732 (yeah, it comes along a hundred years after Maryland). The crowd that is brought in? Mostly from Brit debt-prison situations and notably....the poor of society. They weren't intellectuals, gifted in science or religion, etc. They were geared for the rough life, from day one.
It should be noted in the Georgia charter granted by the King....slavery was forbidden. This stayed this way from 1732 to 1751 (19 years). The original intent (whether understood by everyone or not), was that this was a small-farm operations state, and would stay that way. It was also geared to be a front-line zone (against Spanish-held Florida) and if wars were fought....the farmers would be drafted into service.
You can toss in the German regions of Pennsylvania and the Dutch regions of NY state.
This was not a happy group of like-minded people.
When you get to the early 1800s....there is essentially one major division. The Democratic Party has mastered itself in the south (Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland). The rest are leaning more toward a conservative lifestyle (blame it on the religious groups, the Dutch, or the Germans).
The Constitution that is written? It is a patchwork of art, that marginally is agreeable among the 13 groups of people.
As folks maneuver and head west....the two groups are finding it more difficult to live together in harmony. Individuals from the NE arrive into areas like Indiana and Ohio...wanting taxes collected, and some basic services provided. Individuals coming from Georgia and the Carolinas tend to want little if any taxation, and the less regulation/law....the better off you were.
From 1800 to 1860....this idea of a unified nation is marginally working. Fights break out daily in DC between Republicans and Democrats. Newspapers are hyping people up....talking about about the non-intellectual issues of the southerners, or the conservative lifestyles/rule-making of the northerners. One wants structure....the other wants marginal control.
We will leave the 1865 period, as a truly fractured nation....that is forced to exist in one single sphere.
As much as people want to dwell or suggest the Civil War was about slavery....it had thousands of other issues, and the idea in the end was to just keep forcing the public to live within one unified nation.
Here in the past hundred years? The 'fracture' simply continues. Amusingly enough....around half of the nation has developed into a New England-style Republican structure....wanting less government, less taxation, and less regulation. This 'creature' is not adored by urbanized areas, and it's more openly preferred in rural regions or lesser populated places.
The other half of the nation is bent on a Democratic model (totally unlike the 1820s situation) which believes in structure, regulation, respect of lifestyles, significant taxation (to pay for significant 'gifts'), and geared more toward urbanization.
Flip-flop? Absolutely, over a hundred years....it's exactly opposite of what you'd expect.
Stuck in the middle of this mess? Blacks, Latinos, businessmen, people heavily in debt, a segment of society that is strongly supporting open-drug use, a segment of society that is strongly opposing open-drug use, and bankers/speculators.
The fact that the NASDAQ company, Tesla, Oracle, and Tesla moving to Texas? If you'd suggested this twenty years ago....people would have laughed.
People leaving NY City over the past eight months? There's a belief that it's almost a million, and there might be another million to exit in 2021.
Some are looking at the 'fracture' in a way....that they don't need to accept things as they are, and the safety 'light' has flipped in red (not a positive thing). In the case of San Francisco? Between the homeless situation, local taxes, and lack of safety....the fractured crowd don't see any options other than leaving.
So the question is....are we truly fractured enough now....to say that the nation cannot exist as one?
Behind that question....the other question comes back....was the Civil War only about slavery, and did we fight a war over a serious division which remained after 1865, and continues on to this moment now?
It's something to ponder about.
We were created as a divided nation, and remain a divided nation even to this day. It was a lot more simple in maintaining this divided 'theatrical production'.....with one-hundred million people. But to suggest that we can still operate a unified 'theatrical production' with three-hundred million? Toss in the fact that we now have more than a thousand pages of script which openly divide us daily, and we can't seem to be agreeable?
Go back and read over the history of Yugoslavia, and how it could not be saved as one single nation.
This fracture....isn't about to be resolved....not today, nor tomorrow.
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