As July 4, 2026 approaches it is appropriate to review the use of mediation during the American Revolution.

While European powers did attempt to act as neutral mediators. France and Spain attempted to intervene by presenting Britain with an ultimatum to negotiate. When Britain refused to negotiate with the colonies as an equal, France and Spain became allies to the colonies as a result.

To protect neutral shipping from the British blockades, Russia and Austria proposed a ceasefire between Britain and the colonies. Again, Britain rejected the proposal, refusing to acknowledge the colonies as an independent sovereignty. The colonies rejected attempts at mediation, fearing it might result in partition of the colonies and an unwillingness to accept anything except full independence.

As was true then, it is true now, that mediation will not be productive until the parties involved are ready to settle and willing to consider creative solutions. Would there be a United States had Britain and the colonies agreed to mediate? Of course no one knows, but neither does anyone know what creative solutions might have developed using mediation without the cost of war.

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Fred Jandt is the author of “How to Survive a Mediation,” available now at Barnes & Noble and wherever books are sold.

In 2000, Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone” revealed Americans were less involved in civic and social groups, resulting in a decline in the “social capital” of relationships.

Perhaps more revealing was a Pew Research Center survey released this past February stating 56% of us have stopped talking with someone about political news, compared to 45% in 2024. Liberal, educated, and higher income people are more ikely to say they avoid talking with others about news, if it means risking making relationships uncomfortable.

Mediators know healthy relationships require honest exchanges and avoiding interaction not only weakens interpersonal relationships, but as Putnam would argue, also larger social relationships.

So, how do mediators facilitate talking about tense issues in conflict situations? First comes listening to understand the other’s position and values without making any assumptions. Secondly, mediators don’t immediately engage in argumentation to change a person’s position. Rather, they engage in a discussion to identify shared values.

Communication professor and environmentalist Sally Gearhart and her transformation from confrontation with loggers to finding the “joining point” where they can communicate with shared struggles, serves as an excellent example of how this approach is applied. As she wrote, it’s possible to have a position without creating enemies.

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Fred Jandt is the author of “How to Survive a Mediation,” available now at Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold.