Threats To National Unity In The Early 1800's

In the early days of our nation, national unity seemed very far off. Nothing could be agreed upon, and everything seemed to cause conflict. What didn’t help with national unity was the many significant events that took place in the early 1800’s that caused Americans to divide themselves. One of these events that caused turmoil in the nation was the election of 1800. This election was the first time in our country’s history that the political power passed from one party to another. John Adams, a Federalist, lost the election and passed the office to Thomas Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican. This election split the country as people continued to pick a political party, either the Federalist party or the Democratic-Republican party. Another significant event in this time was the passing of the Alien and Sedition Acts by president
These acts drove a wedge even further between the two political parties. These acts were passed by the Federalists so the opposing Democratic-Republicans would have a harder time drawing support for the upcoming election. As a result, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison authored the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, which said that the states could declare federal law null and void. This helped to drive the two political parties even further apart. The threats of war with both England and France did nothing to help promote national unity. These threats created a very stressful time, where the American citizens were constantly at each other’s throats. The Embargo Act brought people together, but did not create national unity. The Embargo Act brought people together against the national government. The people were not happy with how the Embargo Act impacted the economy, and didn’t like that the government had implemented this law. The final event that contributed to national unity, or lack thereof, was the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was between Britain and