1. Introduction

E pluribus unum ¹is perhaps the best-known motto of the United States of America. Translated from Latin, it means “From many, one,” or “Out of many, one.” In working to achieve this goal, the nation’s Founding Fathers and subsequent leaders faced a challenge of herculean dimensions. You have already learned that, from the very beginning, this land has been home to people of extremely diverse ethnicity, language, religion, social background, and political orientation. The colonial population was sharply divided into 13 political units, each of which was fiercely proud and semi-independent, although under British political domination. In this unit, you will learn how the United States became a strong and unified country guided by a constitution that would satisfy the great majority of its citizens.

Political decisions and government affect nearly every aspect of Americans’ lives and range in scope from local ordinances to national laws. Citizens are protected by laws, many of which strongly influence individual actions as well as those of society as a whole.

Early immigrants to the United States came for a variety of reasons. Some were searching for riches and opportunity. Others had been persecuted because of their religion or because of oppressive authoritarian governments. Still others chose to come as indentured servants, and some were forced to come as slaves. With this diverse mixture of new Americans, there was great fear of a strong central government. Europe was infested with monarchies that were sometimes benevolent and sometimes not. Authority had long been vested in the king or queen in powerful countries such as England, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands and in the tsar in Russia. The royal authority was believed by many to have been conferred by God. As a result, these monarchs often placed themselves above the laws that common people had to follow.