Only 15 Years of Peace In The History of the United States of America

Charles Beuck
Traveling through History
10 min readJan 9, 2020

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Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944 (WWII): Picture by Robert F. Sargent

In the entire history of the United States of America there has been a grand total of 15 years when we have not been at war with someone. Big wars. Small wars. Wars waged on the open seas, in small rivers, across sandy hills, through dense trees, and high in the sky. The United States has engaged in the all.

From its founding in 1776, the United States was engaged in a war for its survival against Great Britain until peace was finally reached in 1783. Unbeknownst to many, this wasn’t the end of war for the fledgling United States. No, that wouldn’t come for more than a decade. Also beginning in 1776 were the Cherokee-American wars, also known as the Chickamauga Wars, which were a series of back-and-forth conflicts between American settlers moving into the Old Southwest and the Cherokee tribes calling this land home. Until the end of 1795, this violence would rage what is now Tennessee, as well as the colonies (and eventually states of) Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky. Justifiably concerned that they would lose still more land to the expanding white settlers, the Cherokee struggled long and hard against the fledgling United States, only to eventually sue for peace and give up much of the land they had so long fought for.

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Charles Beuck
Traveling through History

Charles writes on art, history, politics, travel, fantasy, science fiction, poetry. BA in Psychology, MA, PhD in Political Science.