Coexistence In English Colonies

While to this day millions of bumper stickers read “coexist” and beauty queens speak of world peace, history speaks of examples time and time again where people and nations of different ideologies and interests are unable to peacefully live in mutual tolerance. In current day, Muslims and Jews in Israel illustrate this point. Even America, “the land of the free,” has struggled with this notion of coexistence dating back to when the colonies were first settled. The Seven Years War generated common and disparate interests within English colonies, and the consequences of the Treaty of Paris both helped to unify and further separate the existing British colonies. While coexistence is nothing more than a notion, it seems that every action in an effort to unify doesn’t come without separation.
As European powers conquered territories though, long-established rivalries between countries were heightened. France and Great Britain in particular had notable disparities in their political and cultural systems, which transferred over from Europe to their colonies in the Americas. For instance, due to the French being Catholic and English being Protestant, laws were influenced. France established Civil Rights while England established Common Law. In the 1750s, the competition between Britain and France over power reached its peak. Possession over territory in the upper Ohio River Valley was disputed as France continually built forts there to establish ownership while Britain sent Major George Washington to protect what they believed to be the Virginia Charter’s territory. The Ohio River connected to the Mississippi River, making it a valuable tool in regards to trading and transportation. This conflict eventually became the forefront issue for the start of the French and Indian