Certainly, the changing attitudes toward slavery are also embedded in the novel. Ruth Brinton's efforts to change attitudes of others and to improve the lot of her husband's slaves through the radical act of teaching them to read serve as insights into the thought processes of those opposed to slavery, while Edward Brinton, the Steeds, and others saw justification and realized great physical profit from slave ownership - at least for some time.
Perhaps, the major conflict in Michener's novel is the ownership of the land, an ownership which empowers the families to whom the land belongs. After the Colonial Period, the Steed family comes to own the good land. On it they build a powerful life as the great landowners. But, later, the Sneeds lose this land to the very family that once worked the land for the Sneeds. The Turlocks, who have begun as indentured servants eventually become the real-estate owners and salespeople while the Sneeds become decadent and effete.
Very briefly, this massive novel covers about 400 years of development of the United States as we have come to know it, focusing on the early days and the interactions between the first white settlers and the Indians and then how the white settlers organised themselves and developed, taking over more and more territory.
One conflict you could mention is that between Roman Catholics and Quakers. This is a religious conflict, but there are others which touch upon this too such as the tensions about slavery. Poverty also causes conflicts too, as people are forced to prioritise, some perhaps wrongly.
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