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OVERVIEW Formation The United States celebrates its founding date as July 4 , 1776 , when the Second Continental Congress —representing Thirteen British Colonies —adopted the Declaration Of Independence that rejected British authority in favor of Self-determination . The structure of the government was profoundly changed on March 4 , 1789 , when the states replaced the Articles Of Confederation with the United States Constitution . The new government reflected a radical break from the normative governmental structures of the time, favoring representative, elective government with a weak executive, rather than the existing monarchial structures common within the western traditions of the time. The system borrowed heavily from Enlightenment age ideas and classical western philosophy, in that a primacy was placed upon individual liberty and upon constraining the power of government through division of powers and a system of checks and balances. Industrialization and emergence as a "middle power" In the 1840s , the United States emerged as a significant "middle Power" and the dominant force in its region. After its Civil War in the 1860s , it experienced an accelerated rate of industrialization. Emergence as a superpower Since the late 1800s , the United States has been formally grouped amongst the Great Powers , and has also become a dominant economic force. Following World War I , the U.S. grew steadily in stature as an economic and military world power. Following World War II , it emerged as one of the two dominant Superpower s. In the decades after the Second World War, the United States became a dominant Global influence in Economic , Political , Military , cultural and technological affairs. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union , it stands today as the sole superpower. The power of the United States is nonetheless limited by international agreements and the realities of political, military and economic constraints. HISTORIC REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES The History of the United States has occurred at the Region al, Territorial , State and Local level. It has often depended on the Geography Of The United States , which is primarily situated in central North America , a large and diverse expanse of land and people. These are Historic Regions Of The United States , meaning regions that were legal entities in the past, or which the average modern American would no longer immediately recognize as a regional description. PRE-COLONIAL AMERICA ''See also: Population History Of American Indigenous Peoples , Native Americans In The United States '' Native American s arrived on the North America n continent from North-East Asia at some time between 48,000 BCE and 9,000 BCE , and dominated the area until the influx of European settlers in the early 17th century. Many cultures thrived in the Americas before Europeans came, including the Puebloans ( Anasazi ) in the Southwest and the Adena Culture in the East. COLONIAL AMERICA (1493-1776) See Also: Colonial America Colonial America was defined by ongoing battles between mainly English-speaking colonists and Native Americans, by a severe labor shortage that gave birth to forms of Unfree Labor such as Slavery and Indentured Servitude , and by a British policy of benign neglect ( Salutary Neglect ) that permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1776-1789) See Also: History of the United States (1776-1789) During this period the United States won its independence from Great Britain by winning the American Revolutionary War , and the thirteen former colonies established themselves as the United States of America under the Articles Of Confederation . HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1789–1849) See Also: History of the United States (1789–1849) During this period, the United States government was established by its first president, George Washington , and the Louisiana Purchase , the War Of 1812 , the Mexican-American War , and various Indian Wars expanded and consolidated the land expanse of the United States--while largely displacing the indigenous population. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1849–1865) See Also: History of the United States (1849–1865) This period of United States history saw the breakdown of the ability of white Americans of the North and South to reconcile fundamental differences in their approach to government, economics, society and African American slavery. Abraham Lincoln was elected president, the South seceeded to form the Confederate States Of America , the Civil War followed, with the ultimate defeat of the South. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1865–1918) See Also: History of the United States (1865–1918) Reconstruction and its failure left the Southern Whites in a position of firm control over its black population, denying them their Civil Rights and keeping them in a state of economic, social and political servitude. An unprecedented wave of Immigration To The United States served both to provide the labor for American industry and to create diverse communities in previously undeveloped areas. Native American tribes were generally forced onto small reservations as white farmers and ranchers took over their lands. Abusive industrial practices led to the often violent rise of the Labor Movement in the United States. The United States began its rise to international power in this period with substantial population and industrial growth domestically, and a number of imperalist ventures abroad, including the Spanish-American War . This period was capped by the 1917 entry of the United States into World War I . HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1918–1945) See Also: History of the United States (1918–1945) The after-shock of Russia 's October Revolution resulted in real fears of communism in the United States , leading to a three year Red Scare . The United States Senate did not ratify the Treaty Of Versailles imposed by its Allies on the defeated Central Powers ; instead, the United States chose to pursue Unilateralism , if not Isolationism . In 1920, the manufacture, sale, import and export of alcohol was prohibited by the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution . Prohibition ended in 1933, a failure. During most of the 1920s, the United States enjoyed a period of unbalanced prosperity: farm prices and wages fell, while industrial profits grew. The boom was fueled by a rise in debt and an inflated Stock Market . The Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression led to government efforts to re-start the economy and help its victims. The recovery, however, was very slow and showed very little improvement until World War II . This period ended with the United States being drawn into World War II by the Japanese Attack On Pearl Harbor . The U.S. joined Britain , Nationalist China , and the Soviet Union to defeat Imperial Japan , Fascist Italy , and Nazi Germany . HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1945–1964) See Also: History of the United States (1945–1964) The post-war era in the United States was defined internationally by the beginning of the Cold War , in which the United States and the Soviet Union attempted to expand their influence at the expense of the other, checked by each side's massive Nuclear arsenal and the doctrine of Mutally Assured Destruction . The result was a series of conflicts during this period including the Korean War and the tense nuclear showdown of the Cuban Missile Crisis . Within the United States, the Cold War prompted concerns about Communist Influence , and also resulted in government efforts to encourage math and science toward efforts like the Space Race . Meanwhile, the American people completed their great migration from the farms into the cities, and experienced a period of sustained economic expansion. At the same time, institutionalized racism across the United States, but especially in the American South, was increasingly challenged by the growing Civil Rights Movement and African American leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr. During the 1960s, the Jim Crow Laws that legalized Racial Segregation between Whites and Blacks had come to an end. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1964–1980) See Also: History of the United States (1964–1980) The Cold War continued through the 1960s and 1970s, and the United States entered the Vietnam War , whose growing unpopularity fed already existing social movements, including those among women, minorities and young people. President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society social programs and the judicial activism of the Warren Court added to the wide range of social reform during the 1960s and 70s. The period saw the birth of feminism and the environmental movement as political forces, and continued progress toward Civil Rights. In the early 1970s, Johnson's successor, President Richard Nixon brought the Vietnam War to a close, and the American-backed South Vietnamese government collapsed. The war cost the lives of 58,000 American troops and millions of Vietnamese. Nixon's own administration was brought to an ignominious close with the political scandal of Watergate . The OPEC oil embargo and slowing economic growth led to a period of Stagflation under President Jimmy Carter as the 1970s drew to a close. Space Stations were launched as early as 1971. Huge space advancements became known to man. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1980–1988) See Also: History of the United States (1980–1988) Ronald Reagan produced a major Realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan Coalition was possible because of Democratic losses in most social-economic groups. Political commentators, trying to explain how Reagan had won by such a large margin, used the term "Reagan Democrat" to describe a Democratic voter who had defected to vote for Reagan. The Reagan Democrats were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterwards, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H. W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were mostly white, lived in the Northeast, and were attracted to Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion, and to his hawkish foreign policy. Stan Greenberg , a Democratic pollster, analyzed white, largely unionized auto workers in suburban area near Detroit . The county voted 63 percent for Kennedy in 1960 and 66 percent for Reagan in 1984. He concluded that Reagan Democrats no longer saw Democrats as champions of their middle class aspirations, but instead saw it as being a party working primarily for the benefit of others, especially African Americans and the very poor. Reagan reoriented American politics. He claimed credit in 1984 for an economic renewal--"it's morning in America again!" was the campaign slogan. Income taxes were slashed 25% and the punitive rates abolished. The frustrations of stagflation were resolved, as no longer did soaring inflation and recession pull the country down. Deregulation, handled in bipartisan fashion, removed the last traces of the New Deal, with the exception of Social Security. Working again in bipartisan fashion, the Social Security financial crises was resolved for the next 25 years. The tax cuts were not accompanied by spending cuts, so opponents complained that the rise in the national debt was an ominous trend. The growth in income inequality troubled liberals. In foreign affairs bipartisanship was not in evidence. The Democrats doggedly opposed his efforts to support anti-Communist movements in Latin America (they all crumbled away after 1989). He took a hard line against the Soviet Union, alarming Democrats who wanted a nuclear freeze, but he succeeded in growing the military budget and launching a very high tech "Star Wars" missile defense system that the Soviets could not match. When Michael Gorbachev came to power in Moscow many conservative Republicans were dubious of the friendship between him and Reagan. Gorbachev tried to save Communism in Russia first by ending the expensive arms race with America, then (1989) by shedding the East European empire. Communism finally collapsed in Russia in 1991. George W. H. Bush tried to tamper feelings of triumphalism lest there be a backlash in Russia, but the palpable sense of victory in the cold War was a success that validated for Republicans the aggressive foreign policies Reagan had taught them. As Haynes Johnson, one of his harshest critics admitted, "His greatest service was in restoring the respect of Americans for themselves and their own government after the traumas of Vietnam and Watergate, the frustration of the Iran hostage crisis and a succession of seemingly failed presidencies." Through History'' (1989) p 28 Yet the restoration of faith in the government was an ironical twist for the man who personally distrusted government so much. The tension between strong government and distrust in government reemerged in the Bush II administration, pulling party activists in opposite directions. HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES (1988–PRESENT) See Also: History of the United States (1988–present) After the fall of the Soviet Union , the United States still involved itself in military action overseas, including the 1991 Gulf War . Following his Election In 1992 , President Bill Clinton oversaw the longest economic expansion in American history, a side effect of the Digital Revolution and new business opportunities created by the Internet (see Internet Bubble ). At the beginning of the new millennium, the United States found itself attacked by Islamist Terrorism , with the September 11, 2001 Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden . In response, under the administration of President George W. Bush , the United States (with the military support of NATO and the political support of most of the international community) invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban regime, which had supported and harbored bin Laden. More controversially, President Bush continued what he dubbed the "war on terror" with the invasion of Iraq by overthrowing and capturing Saddam Hussein in 2003. This second invasion proved to be unpopular in many parts of the world, even amongst long-time American allies and such as France , and helped fuel a global wave of Anti-American Sentiment . The Presidential Election In 2000 was one of the closest in American history, and helped lay the seeds for political polarization to come. As of 2006, the political climate remains polarized as debates continue over Partial Birth Abortion , federal funding of Stem Cell research, separation of church and state, Same-sex Marriage , Immigration Reform and the ongoing War In Iraq . SEE ALSO
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