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White-1235327-History 1B03-1
White-1235327-History 1B03-2
of mass colonisation, the desire to acquire goods no matter who you have to overcome
Weaver explains the main way in which barbed wire was used to cordon off areas of profit:
Wire illegally ringed millions of acres of public domain in the early 1880s.3 Legal conflicts
arose out of a necessity to provide validity, as Weaver argues: British and American
governments did not divest people of property without some due process; even the
dispossession of most first peoples engaged legal processes, though ones manipulated by
colonisers.4
Weaver argues that all these forms of conflict were also a part of a deep mistrust between the
governments of the world and their colonisers. The example of the illegally seized land by
barbed wire is counter by a reaction by the government after a few years to remove these
obstacles.5He includes in the conclusion that one of the many of the conflicts were caused by
government attempts to control their settlers, and he explicitly states that it caused: launched
distinctive regional and national political legacies. 6 Referring to the modern state system of
government distrust by business and the populace as a whole, it has influenced a lasting
distrust in certain nations for their governments; specifically the United States.
The conflicts presented in Weavers book are clear and concise, a struggle between control
and trade, and it shows a historical debate as to whether or not peoples abilities to trade and
improve the world around them without any restraint. Violence, whether government
authorised or through civil desire, is the most visible sign of conflict but there are much more
subtle conflicts such as economic domination and legal recognition, and ruling over all of
3 Weaver, 306.
4 Weaver, 13.
5 Weaver, 307.
6 Weaver, 348.
White-1235327-History 1B03-3
these is a conflict between government control and indifference. The deep-seeded conflicts
started during the colonial era are some of the lasting conflicts that still exist today.