Dominant Theme in History

    In American history from 1607 to 1850, there are many events that shaped the country that we live in today. Slavery, war, conquest, and even more historic themes all changed how America developed and shaped. Although these themes are the main focus of early American history, I do not believe that any of them are the most important. The most important theme of early American history is compromise. Many events in early American history are compromises made between two or more sides or nations. Some compromises can be direct, or written, agreed upon, etc., and some compromises are indirect, for example the results of a finished war.

    One example of a direct compromise situation is the “rivalry,” or contrasting beliefs and practices of the north and south in America. The north and south repeatedly reached compromises in order to quench the thirst of hate and war. Over the course of many years in America, the north and south had many disagreements on certain matters. One of the largest matters that the north and south disagreed upon was slavery. For the most part, people in northern states hated slavery, and people in southern states embraced slavery. A countermeasure in lowering in tensions between the north and south was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. The most effective statement in this written and recorded compromise was that for each slave state added to the U.S., a non-slave state, or free state also had to be added. Although this compromise did its job in keeping Americans together, it did not last very long.