Terrorism in America is History of Conflict over Who is a "Real" American

Terrorism in America, like America itself, is a product of the many populations, issues and conflicts that co-exist within the nation’s borders.

The United States is nearly unique among nations for its ability to “contain multitudes” in relative harmony. On examination, a substantial amount of terrorism in American history is motivated by an extreme distrust of the American ideal of democracy, in which people of varied backgrounds can all claim loyalty to and the benefits of the American system. In other words, despite enormous variation in terrorism’s expression, domestic terrorism in the United States can often be explained as a violent claim over what or who is authentically American.

This distrust has had various forms of expression by different groups, in different periods.

The Early Republic: Colonists Use Violence to Proclaim Independence

Although the Boston Tea Party does not necessarily come to mind as an act of terrorism, the staged rebellion by colonists was meant to threaten the British into changing its policy of taxing colonist tea importers' imports, while offering a tariff-free trade to its East India Tea Company. Putting the Boston Tea Party in the category of terrorism can be a useful exercise for comparing the goals and tactics of different