Thomas Jefferson believed that atrocities committed by an enemy tended to unite the nation being targeted, increasing its ability to fight back against the aggressor. He wrote:
“I am exceedingly sorry to learn that the enemy are committing such cruel depredations. . . . [H]owever, it may tend to produce immoveable hatred against so detestable a nation and thereby strengthen our Union.”
Never was this phenomenon more evident than in the days and weeks after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, as Americans came together in grief and outrage. However, as time has passed and the war against terror has dragged on with no clear end in sight, the American people have lost their post-9/11 unity and become perhaps even more fractured a society than before the attacks. Apparently, the unifying force Jefferson described does not last indefinitely.
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