Roe sowed the seeds of a crisis that will end with America ceasing to be divided: we will become all one thing or all the other.

Definition of germ
1a: a small mass of living substance capable of developing into an organism or one of its parts
b: the embryo with the scutellum of a cereal grain that is usually separated from the starchy endosperm during milling
2: something that initiates development or serves as an origin : RUDIMENTS, BEGINNING Synonyms for germ
fountainhead, origin, root, seed, seedbed