What event, to you, was the most important in the history of the nation?
I’m talking post-Revolutionary War here. Obviously without the Revolution there would be no United States.
I say the ruling in Marbury vs. Madison, which established the principle of judicial review. The principle by itself was by no means a foregone conclusion, and Justice Marshall’s reasoning that the Court’s role as the defender of the Constitution granted it the authority to declare Acts of Congress unconstitutional certainly did not square with the view of the Founding Fathers.
Without Marbury, most, if not all, of the priveleges we take for granted would be subject to the decisions of legislatures, which, as history has shown, are often willing to pass legislation which runs counter to the Constitution.
However, it could be argued that without that particular case, a similar case would eventually have highlighted the same issues and Constitutional Democracy would not really be all that different.
Not wishing to turn this thread into a simple IMHO, but I think the US and indeed the world can count its lucky stars that this happened first in New Mexico rather than anywhere less responsible.
Unquestionably the end of the Civil War, and the preservation of the Union. The history of th United States and the world would be vastly different if the Confederate States of America were still in existence.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free, the wretched refuse of your teaming shore; send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Fantastic stuff - and a beacon to the best side of human nature.
Coming from England, I skipped the bit about telling me I can stuff my “stored pomp”
I am probably an unreasonable critic on the present day USA on these boards, judging the place as I do against the higher standard of it’s stated ideals.
So, what a pleasure it is to cheer from the sidelines about something which expresses all that is fine, honourable and simply good about America and what it should always stand for.
Would that current attitudes of the developed world were so altuistic today. Still there is always home and ideals expressed in stone like this monument help remind us so.
Gosh, feeling so warm and fuzzy I will even delete my Nixon-knocking sig line!
I’m going to have to say the adoption of our current form of government in 1787. Unlike a lot of other revolutions we didn’t end up eating ourselves when it was all over. The same could be said of the Civil War I suppose but I think post-Revolutionary War really set the standard.
The Civil War… and the consequent gaining of power by northern industrialists.
Brazil and Southern US were very similar… slave based agriculture. Except that Brazil had gold and other stuff during the colonial period. Without the subjugation of the backward southern states the Confedaracy might have become like Brazil. We only freed slaves in the 1880’s.
How about the Lousiana Purchase? That single event dramatically increased the power of the president, created Manifest Destiny, and made us the only ones with control over most of the continent. Without it, we’d be another Europe.
i disagree with marbury v. madison. the principle of judicial review had already been established in federal court, and marbury served more to consolidate power for the judicial branch and marshall’s court than it did to establish judicial review. also, throughout the history of the united states, the justices have been more than a bit reluctant to strike down state and federal laws due to their conflict with civil liberties.
i’m going to go with the great compromise, which enshrined slavery into our constitution. this allowed the constitution to be ratified and create the country, included the southern states in the union, and creating the racial conflict that dominated the history of this country, from the missouri compromise to dred scott, to the civil war, and on through the jim crow laws, plessy v. ferguson, and on into the 1960s, and even today.
George Washington’s peaceful hand-off of the title and power of president to (Adams? I can’t remember for sure). This was the first time that someone had voluntarily stepped down from a position of ruler of a nation and permitted someone else who was democratically elected to take over. it also established the principle that no person should be president for more than two consecutive terms. Without this, the United States as we know it would not have existed long enough for some of the other suggested events to take place.
Under the idea something very important happened that almost didn’t, Polk’s election may be the most important since the country’s founding. (IMO, the Civil War would have been fought anyway at some point)
In the summer of 1844, a few months before Polk won election over Clay by about 2%, the US Senate rejected the proposal Texas had submitted for annexation.
Polk had perfect knowledge where the boundaries of the US was. Texas was part of it and he drew the line which didn’t meet with Mexico’s approval. So the war, which effectively eliminated Mexico from ever again believing they might challenge the US.
At the same time, Polk sent James Buchanan to give the British a message concerning the land despute in the northwest. Negotiations are now over, we own all it(actually the area was actually greater than the US had even claimed) and you Brits can either like it or it’s war.
Polk’s attitude toward this subject apparently was it wasn’t his opinion or a demand, simply fact. Things would be a lot different today if a few thousand Polk voters in New York had voted for Clay instead.
That’s gonna be a really tough question for any agreeable answer.
The annexation of Texas has gotta be up there though. Think of all the Texans the U.S. might’ve missed out on. JFK might even have lived.
Seriously, IMHO it’s gotta be the civil war. For bad or good it changed the US economically, demographically, politically…(esp. politically) and in many ways the results still affect the country, the world and all of us.
How about the entry of the WW1?
Admittedly it was not an act of the same magnitude as the Civil War, but still it broke the U.S. tradition of isolation. Undoubtedly the U.S. would still have been a mighty power of today, but maybe a bit less so without the WW1. Pretty much like China stagnated in comparison with the rest of the world due to isolation.
Who here could even imagine what the world would look like today without U.S. intervention the last century.
If the Union line gets turned, Gettysburg is Lee’s first decisive victory on Union “home” soil (Antietam was a draw, not a win). Northern public opinion shifts dramatically with an invading army roaming around. Lincoln loses the election, and McClellan (his likely successor) negotiates peace. CSA becomes a separate entity, Constitution is down the toilet. The United States effectively ceases to exist.
What aspect of American History do you wish to look at?
Military History: World War II- It brought about 2 major changes in the world. First, it ushered in the nuclear era with Hiroshima and Nagasaki (quick aside: We hear tons about Hiroshima, but almost nothing about Nagasaki…I wonder why?). The second outcome of the second World War is that America is now a superpower in the world, in a way that it failed to achieve after the Great War.
Political History: Reconstruction era; this time period sets the stage for the South for the next 100+ years
Constitutional/legal history: It’s a tie between the incorporation of the Bill of Rights via the 14th amendment and the civil rights act of 1964. Both legal actions were wateshed moments in the history of civil rights for America
Social history: 1914, the year the Great War broke out. Since the Civil War, immigrants from Eastern and southern Europe flooded into America, especially though Ellis Island in NY. In this time period, the population in NYC explodes as Jewish, Irish, Italian, etc. people came to America in droves. Then the Great War begins. Europe closes its borders from emigrants, trapping them in their homes.
See? It really depends on how you want to look at things. This is just what I came up with off the top of my head. With a little research, I could give you much better answers to the above as well as discuss other aspects of American history that I have neglected to this point.
I’d have to go with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
The Constitution itself was a heavily negotiated compromise between state and national governement rights, and there was extensive debate between the Federalists and the anti-federalists over whether the Constitution should be adopted. Almost all of the events mentioned played out over the backdrop of the Constitution.
bah, does no one agree that it was the great compromise?
without it, there would be no united states. there would’ve been no civil war. even if they all managed to agree on somehow abolishing slavery, or some other compromise, and still created the united states, the tensions caused by slavery wouldn’t have been there as the necessary cause of the civil war.
enshrining slavery in our national charter has led to things which dominated our national history: civil rights, civil war, reconstruction, the economic systems of the country, and has a direct hand in the lingering racism of today.
for such a seemingly small event, i can’t see anything with a greater impact on the history of this country.
Ok…since this is up for great debate, let me ask this question: What qualities do we look at when we’re discussing “importance?”
If you want to talk about the way things set the stage for future events, then something like the Constitution or the Treaty of Versailles or the founding of the OSS could be some major events.
If you want to talk about famous events, then something like the Revolutionary war or 7 December 1941 could qualify.
Before we can determine what is “the most” important aspect of US history, we must decide what determines “importance”.
Ok ok, I admit it, I’m an anal-retentive, meticulous investigator.
