Force Of Unification

It is often said there is no greater force of unification than that of a common enemy. The original thirteen American colonies are no exception to this statement. The colonies began as separate entities whose occupants did not associate themselves with any colony but their own. As time passed multiple common adversaries served as metaphorical bridges which connected the colonies. Because of this unifying adversity, by the eve of the American revolution the colonies and many of their inhabitants viewed themselves as more together than apart, American instead of Englishmen. Firstly, the French and Indian War sparked the movement of the colonies together, rather than apart. The colonists’ enemies were formidable, and if they did not fight
together, as Americans, they would surely loose. The leaders of colonial society knew this which caused the prominent Benjamin Franklin to draw the iconic, “Join or Die”, political cartoon. With the help of this rallying cry, and many others like it, the colonists were convinced to not only fight the French and Indians, but fight them together. The colonists were not fighting to defend just New York or Virginia, but America causing this to be the first major contributor to a sense of unified American Identity.