American History

The colonial America comprised of thirteen colonies from Europe. The colonies were as varied as their cultural and religious background. There were tension and culture clash as each colony tried to chart its own way and acquire more land in the expansive America. For too long the colonial settlers were against each other. Competition between religious groups was rifle and intolerance of other peoples culture was the order of the day. However, there came a time when colonies had to unite for their own good. There were two historical experiences that led to the unity of the American thirteen colonies. One of these was the Great Awakening movement that happened during 1720s through to the 1740s. Most immigrants that settled in the colonial America came seeking a religious freedom. And since the British never imposed the Church of England as the official church on the 13 colonies, religious practices were diverse as the people themselves. The Great Awakening started by Jonathan Edwards and later led by George Whitefield together with other itinerant pastors moved around the continent and across the colonies preaching for a new birth and repentance regardless of ones cultural or religious background (Ciment, 2005). The preachers and their followers were credited with promoting religious tolerance among the diverse religious groups in the different colonies. The revival movement brought a new understanding of the Christian faith that was very much missing which was to be shared by people from the north and south as well as across all races.

French and Indian which occurred between 1754 and 1763 cemented the gains made by the great awakening. While it is notated that most the past colonial wars experienced in North America began in Europe before spreading to the colonies, the French and Indian war was a different one it was started in North America before it spilled over to Europe. Suspicion and cutthroat competition between the colonies was responsible for the war. For example, the French and the British had a long struggle to take control of the Ohio valley and the Great lakes region something said to have been the primary cause of the war (Ciment, 2005). The French and Indian war brought a sense for unity of purpose among the thirteen American colonists under the British Empire to win the war against the French who were viewed as a threat by all other colonists. Unity among Americans was further boosted by this war as people found an opportunity to leave their colonies and move across the larger continent to fight alongside other people from different cultural background but shared the common American interest.

During the war, Americans got the opportunity to be trained by the British officers in readily for the battle, something that did not only bring the colonies together but would later help in the American Revolution. According to Ciment (2005) the war also brought together the colonial legislatures as well as officials into strong cooperation probably for the first time in efforts to pursue the continents military strength. Once the war was over and the French defeated, the colonists together with the British felt a joint a triumphant victory over their common enemy. This strengthened the colonies loyalty to America as their mother land more than before. The end of the war also marked the end of the need for colonial protection of the colonists because the foreign threat had been eliminated.