United States History

In 1607, English settlers landed on the East Coast of America and formed the Jamestown colony.  That began a colonial period until 1776 and a Declaration of Independence of the original thirteen colonies from England.  They became states of the United States of America.  After those states ratified the Constitution in 1788, they seated the first Congress in 1789. By December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified the Bill of Rights.

Before states ever united under one Constitution and Bill of Rights, division began according to ideological positions termed, federalist and anti-federalist.  The Federalists were a political party and supported a strong centralized government.  On the other hand, another party, the Anti-Federalists argued against expanding national power and advocated individual liberties, states rights, and localized authority.

Before the ratification of the Constitution, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay debated federalism versus anti-federalism in the Federalist Papers, first published in New York newspapers between October 1787 and May 1788.  Division along the lines of these two general positions continued in the early history of the United States.  With the addition of other issues, like slavery, this division grew and then fomented into a Civil War.

Since the Civil War

The completion of the Civil War in 1865 did not end division in the United States.  That continued.  Some of the disunity founded by the early disparity between Federalists and Anti-Federalists persisted.  Those seeds still germinate and rise in various iterations of the original ground of division.

The United States is no kingdom of Jesus Christ under the unifying power and discipline of the words of Christ.  Its form of government cannot sustain oneness like that between God the Father and the Son expressed in John 17.  The superstructure of this nation doesn’t portend toward biblical unity.  Discord is baked in.  The United States doesn’t possess the tools or instrumentation necessary to ward off significant division, even though United is its first name.

Paul taught Timothy to pray for rulers and those in authority so that the church can live peaceably (1 Timothy 2:1-3).  Peaceably stands for a manifestation of unity.  The government agrees not to imprison and kill believers for merely practicing scripture.  It doesn’t mean the government supports the church or its positions, just allows it to operate freely.

Greater Division

Out of the soup of Federalism and Anti-Federalism comes the present and even greater division in the United States.  It stems to a certain degree from the original division, but it grew in magnitude.  The founders of the United States did not, maybe would or could not, put in the necessary preventatives against massive division in the country.  They compromised at the beginning to hold everything together, which meant not providing the crucial deterrents for division that first turned into a Civil War and now we’re where we are.

A popular Democrat and media talking point is that Donald Trump is the number one cause of division in the United States.  Their point argues that Trump operates in conflict with established political norms, which creates chaos and a very uncomfortable environment.  People will describe this situation dividing families, making for an uncomfortable time at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Cause of the Division

Trump didn’t cause the division seen in the environment heading into election on November 5, 2024.  Very often today people will call this clash a culture war.  It already existed before Trump, but his rise reveals its existence.  Trump embodies the division in the country, doesn’t cause it.  It represents two completely diametrically opposed views of the world.  Not everyone voting for Trump falls neatly into one of the two sides of this dispute.  Some just like his policies better.  The heatedness and underlying threat of war emanates from the fundamental root of the division.

The separation between the two major factions goes back a long ways, even preceding the time of the founding of the United States.  It relates to epistemology, how that we know what we know.  The printing and publication of scripture in people’s language took nations out of the dark ages.  Arising from this was modern science and a return to the cultural mandate of Genesis 1:26-28, especially seen in Isaac Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.  True science started on a good trajectory, but splintered finally for various reasons (important ones to understand) into modernism first in Europe and then on to the United States.

Modernism arose in the United States after the Civil War parallel with the industrial revolution.  Instead of God and scripture as a starting point, modernism shifted to human reason, rationalism, or “evidence.”  Premoderns began with a bias toward God, what Stephen Meyer calls the “God hypothesis.”  They believed in a transcendent, which is objective, basis for truth, goodness, and beauty.  Modernism came into major institutions, influenced their leaders, and changed the culture.

Further Explanation

The insufficiency and inadequacy or failure of modernism finally led to a total rejection of objective truth, goodness, and beauty.  This transformed the culture.  Pragmatism in churches led to compromise, capitulation, and then cooperation with the cultural changes in the United States.  The right side of the two major factions does not necessarily embrace the reality or necessity of objective truth, but it understands the suicide of not living or acting like it exists.

Many if not most would ask, “Why Trump?”  That requires a long answer that many won’t accept even if it is the right answer.  The country is divided and taking Trump out of the equation will not change that.  It comes from deep philosophical and even theological differences and an unwillingness at least for now with either side to accept the other.  Some still won’t vote for Trump even though they also don’t accept the other side.

Over a year ago, I called this a “slow moving car crash.”  The cars have about arrived now.  We’re days away.