From political battles to actual warfare, America has experienced deep divides throughout its history. Join us as we explore the moments when the United States was most fractured along ideological, racial, and political lines. These watershed periods didn't just divide citizens temporarily—they fundamentally altered the nation's trajectory and continue to influence American society today.
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00:00We are divorced north from south because we hated each other so.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times
00:09throughout United States history when its citizens were most divided.
00:13We wanted to make it clear that business as usual could not go on.
00:20Number 10. The Fifth Party System.
00:23When George Washington stepped down in 1796,
00:26he warned the country not to splinter into political parties.
00:29He was becoming brittle and ill-tempered.
00:31He would go into furious rages largely about the forces of partisanship
00:36that he could feel exploding even within his own cabinet.
00:40He had no idea how convoluted they would become.
00:43The two main parties ran on completely opposite platforms for decades.
00:47In 1932, a key shift happened when Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency,
00:52running as a Democrat.
00:54So first of all, let me assert my firm belief
00:59that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
01:05He implemented the New Deal through any means necessary,
01:08including expanding governmental powers.
01:11Government intervention reached its highest point, however,
01:13in the Tennessee Valley Authority.
01:15This program built a series of dams in the Tennessee River Valley
01:18to control floods, prevent deforestation,
01:21and provide cheap electric power to people in rural counties in seven southern states.
01:26This sowed discord both within the political sphere and among citizens.
01:30It was also during this time that Republicans began to undergo
01:33several changes in their ideology, focusing on conservative economic and social policies.
01:40Before this, there were fiscal conservatives and liberals in both parties,
01:44they were all over the spectrum.
01:45But now, if you believed in a more conservative economic policy,
01:48you were Republican, and if you were more liberal, you were Democrat.
01:51Democrats responded in turn, leading to a complete swap in voting demographics.
01:56This deepened the rift between the two parties, one that's still noticeable today.
02:01Number nine, 2000 election dispute and the Bush era.
02:05Elections are a staple of American politics, but they aren't always indisputable.
02:10Some have been incredibly close,
02:11and the subsequent results have only created more division.
02:15This was apparent during the 2000 race between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
02:19The results were too close to call, resulting in a series of recounts and legal battles.
02:24The vote is now so close between them that there will be an automatic recount.
02:29What are you talking about recounts? I'm in bed. There's no recounts going on.
02:34After a month-long dispute, the victory went to Bush,
02:37with him winning by less than 1% of the vote.
02:40Vice President Gore and I put our hearts and hopes into our campaigns. We both gave it our all.
02:47While the results were accepted, there were still several questions called into play,
02:51including the accuracy of the ballots used.
02:54Democrats charge a confusing ballot layout led voters to think they were
02:58punching the ballot for Al Gore when they were actually voting for Reform Party candidate,
03:03Pat Buchanan.
03:043,500 people did not vote for Pat Buchanan.
03:07Come on, this is heavily Democratic Palm Beach County.
03:09The dispute only served to further the already growing divide between
03:13urban centers and more rural areas across the country.
03:16Number eight, Trump era.
03:18Donald Trump announcing his candidacy in 2015 led to a splintered reaction.
03:24You know, all of my life I've heard that a truly successful person, a really,
03:29really successful person, and even modestly successful, cannot run for public office.
03:36Just can't happen.
03:38And yet that's the kind of mindset that you need to make this country great again.
03:44Those who supported him saw him as a chance to shake things up,
03:47while his detractors saw him as destructive.
03:50It caused a rift within the Republican Party,
03:53with traditionalists disavowing his more extreme policies.
03:56He's a race baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.
04:01He doesn't represent my party. He doesn't represent the values
04:04that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.
04:07His eventual win in 2016 sparked significant division
04:11and fueled serious tensions between his base and the left, and even amongst relatives.
04:16The divisiveness among Americans was exacerbated following
04:19Trump's 2020 election loss and his re-election in 2024.
04:24We also have won the popular vote. That was great.
04:29That was great.
04:34This kind of political polarization isn't entirely new.
04:37In the latter half of the 20th century, the realignment of conservative Southern
04:41Democrats caused increasing tensions between the two camps.
04:44Number seven, Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation.
04:48Unseating a president is no small task.
04:51It's a lengthy legal procedure that comes with its own set of political consequences.
04:55On June 17, 1972, there was a break-in at the Democratic National Committee's
05:00headquarters in the Watergate office complex.
05:03This was the start of what would be the political crime of the century.
05:06However, members of Nixon's campaign were caught planting recording devices within
05:11the meeting place of the Democratic National Committee,
05:14which set off a domino effect he couldn't escape.
05:17Illegal plans, illegal burglaries.
05:20Really, the White House became a kind of criminal enterprise by the end of his presidency,
05:26to a remarkable extent that I think we didn't understand at the time.
05:30His attempts to distance himself from the controversy led to the discovery of his own
05:34devices, leading to calls for his removal.
05:37While he wasn't officially impeached, Nixon resigned from the presidency and was immediately
05:42pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford.
05:45This proved to be divisive amongst the public, with many calling for Nixon to face the consequences
05:50of his actions.
05:51May God's grace be with you in all the days ahead.
05:57Number six, the fourth party system.
05:59While it may have been a time of progress, it wasn't without its own challenges.
06:04The fourth party system ushered in a nearly undisputed reign of Republican power, thanks
06:08to the realignment of both the populist and greenback parties.
06:12Adding certain elements of populism shored up Democratic support in the South and the
06:16Midwest, but for many Americans their ideas were too radical and the Democrats were unable
06:19to elect any presidential candidates between 1896 and 1932, with one exception, Woodrow Wilson.
06:25It was a time of social movements, such as women's suffrage, eventually leading to the
06:29passing of the 19th Amendment.
06:31And in the following November, the ladies appeared at the polls on election day by the
06:35hundreds of thousands.
06:37They had won their right to vote.
06:39While this caused debate, the real issues lay in corporations becoming intertwined with
06:43politics.
06:44This was most apparent with the implementation of high tariffs, which many taxpayers argued
06:49would negatively affect those without wealth.
06:52It came to a head when Theodore Roosevelt split off from the GOP to form the short-lived
06:57Progressive Party, causing a permanent rupture within the Republican base.
07:01The party didn't outlast Theodore Roosevelt himself, but in 1912 it did bring together
07:06those Americans who thought that a strong federal government, active in the public welfare
07:11and also active on the international scene, was what a great nation needed.
07:16Number 5.
07:17Post-Revolution.
07:18Federalism vs. Anti-Federalism.
07:20Discord has been present since the country's infancy.
07:23In 1777, representatives of the original 13 states drafted the initial document that would
07:29outline American society, the Articles of Confederation.
07:33However, after America actually won its independence and became a functioning nation, it quickly
07:38became clear that the Articles were badly in need of some revision.
07:42When trying to decide how to govern following the Revolutionary War, the constituents found
07:46themselves in one of two positions.
07:48The first group, the Federalists, believed in strengthening the federal government, while
07:52the second group believed power should remain in the hands of the states.
07:56Nothing is more certain than the need for government.
08:00Ha!
08:01How fast you Federalists forget.
08:03Long have we endured the powerful British government under the tyranny of King George.
08:09Several debates took place, and some founding fathers even wrote a series of essays arguing
08:14for the Federalist cause.
08:15It wasn't until the violence of Shay's Rebellion that Federalists gained more support.
08:20In 1789, a new government was established, which was further cemented by the ratification
08:25of the Bill of Rights.
08:26However, even with this development, the ongoing discourse was a sign of more division to come.
08:32The rivalry of the Federalists versus the Anti-Federalists will continue all the way
08:37to present day in the form of our political parties.
08:40Number 4.
08:41Vietnam War.
08:42Times of war are often divisive, especially when one of the parties inserts themselves
08:47unnecessarily.
08:48In the final analysis, it's their war.
08:51They're the ones who have to win it or lose it.
08:53We can help them.
08:54We can give them equipment.
08:55We can send our men out there as advisors, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam,
09:00against the Communists.
09:01The Vietnam War had been ongoing for a decade before the United States stepped in.
09:05They had been involved from afar, but worries that Communism would spread led to the Western
09:10country sending troops of its own.
09:12Our people in South Vietnam are helping to protect people against terror.
09:17This move was highly controversial, especially with the randomized draft that led millions
09:22of men to do whatever they could to avoid it.
09:25Protests occurred across the country, with the National Guard turning on citizens, resulting
09:30in the deaths of four students at Kent State University.
09:33What the investigators have to determine, then, is whether indeed there was a sniper
09:37and whether the Guard was justified in firing its weapons, or whether, as some people here
09:42believe, the Guard, under the pressure of a rock-throwing attack, panicked and fired
09:47its weapons indiscriminately, killing four people.
09:50After the war ended, the country was left fractured, and many lost faith in the military.
09:55Number 3.
09:56Jim Crow era.
09:57Even after the abolishment of slavery, cruelty continued.
10:01A Louisiana shoemaker named Omer Plessy was fined $25 for refusing to leave a whites-only
10:08car on the Louisiana Railway.
10:11Plessy was only one-eighth black, but under Louisiana law, he was black.
10:16Though African-Americans had gained some rights following the Reconstruction era,
10:20the passing of Jim Crow laws throughout the South imposed severe burdens.
10:25The very name Jim Crow was derived from a racial taunt, adding insult to injury.
10:30The laws made segregation legal.
10:33Everything from schools to drinking fountains were made separate, deepening the racial divide.
10:38I would come home and ask my mother, my father, my grandparents, my great-grandparents,
10:44why, why?
10:45They would say, that's the way it is.
10:47Don't get in trouble.
10:49Don't get in the way.
10:51Protests and boycotts followed, with some becoming iconic in history.
10:55It took the federal government stepping in to make concrete changes,
10:59passing several acts to finally dismantle the laws in the 1960s.
11:03It is wrong, deadly wrong, to deny any of your fellow Americans the right to vote in this country.
11:15But by then, the damage had been done, and the schism they caused still hasn't fully healed.
11:21Antebellum period.
11:23Even when it was legal and popularized, slavery was a hot-button political issue.
11:28In the 50 years since the revolution, every northern state had outlawed slavery.
11:34It had once seemed likely that it would disappear in the South as well, but no more.
11:39The North had deviated from the practice during the 19th century,
11:42putting their focus into other forms of commerce.
11:45The South relied on it to keep their economy afloat,
11:48leading to them feeling threatened when Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860.
11:52Three of the ten, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi,
11:56vowed to secede from the Union if he were elected.
11:59While there had been threats of violence for decades,
12:02things remained at a simmer, although the pressure was steadily increasing.
12:06The government even passed a gag rule, effectively ceasing conversation around the topic.
12:11This rule not only prevented any discussion of ending slavery in the House of Representatives,
12:16it also limited an important way that non-voters could express their views on the issue.
12:22Through it all, the abolitionist movement continued to garner support.
12:25Things boiled over after Lincoln assumed office,
12:28resulting in a split within the Democratic Party and the first southern state to secede from the Union.
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12:50Number one, American Civil War.
12:52All of the tension built up throughout the antebellum period led to this moment,
12:57an intense conflict that pitted citizen against citizen.
13:00I always shot at privates. It was they that did the shooting and killing,
13:04and if I could kill or wound a private, why my chances were so much the better.
13:09The bloodshed started soon after secession began,
13:11with the Confederacy attacking Fort Sumter in 1861.
13:15Several battles and sieges commenced over a four-year period,
13:19each with its own share of death and continued hatred.
13:22The main men opened fire into the charging rebels.
13:25Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865 signaled the end of the war.
13:31Though Lincoln wouldn't live to see it, the South eventually rejoined the Union,
13:35now a fractured version of itself.
13:38If we're not talking just about the series of battles
13:41that finished up with the surrender at Appomattox, but talking instead about
13:47the struggle to make something higher and better out of the country,
13:52then the question gets more complicated.
13:55Though the fighting was over, things didn't go back to normal.
13:58The era of Reconstruction drove a wedge between the North and South,
14:02one whose effects are still felt to this day.
14:05Which period do you think caused the biggest rift within the American populace?
14:09Let us know in the comments below.
14:11The part assigned to me is to raise the flag,
14:15which, if there be no fault in the machinery, I will do.
14:21And when up, it'll be for the people to keep it up.
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