America's history is a long one, but that's what you get when you make countries: history. Let
us start, for now, at the beginning of time. The earth spun out and
formed into a planet. Over time, continents and volcanoes formed. The
Pacific Ocean was filled, and volcanoes lined the coasts around it,
creating what is now called the Ring of Fire. Tectonic plates fought
each other to form mountains. The North American plate
slid into place, and though there are some discrepancies as to how
human beings began to appear around the world, there were humans in
almost every continent, and especially Europe, when Christopher Columbus was dispatched to find a route to Asia through the Pacific. However, he bumped into North America and sent back his news to Spain. The new continent was named 'America' after Amerigo Vespucci1, another explorer with a claim to the discovery of North America.
In the blink of an eye, there were settlers along the east side of the
Atlantic. They encountered a number of indigenous cultures that were
scattered all around the new world. Early Colonisation The
British colony of Roanoke was a disaster, but the colony of Jamestown
was organised to seek gold and a passage to Asia in 1607. Jamestown
ended up finding huge success in producing tobacco, which would be the
main cash crop of the Southern states for many many years to come.
However, labour shortages caused some of the people there to use
indentured servants as a source of free labour. When Nathaniel Bacon
incited a rebellion, planters saw the potential in slavery: helpless,
cheap people without arms. In 1620, the Pilgrims, who left England to seek religious freedom, landed their ship, the Mayflower,
onto Plymouth Rock and set up the Mayflower Compact, in which they
agreed to live by majority rule for the general good. A large portion
of the settlers died in the first winter, but the survivors, or so
legend has it, celebrated the first American Thanksgiving with
neighbouring native people of the Wampanoag tribe. In 1628, a
larger group of puritans who wanted religious freedom established a
settlement in Salem, Massachusetts, and quite a few other settlements,
such as Boston. Colonial Times Ships
travelled across the Atlantic at a regular rate, and the colonies grew
gradually. In 1630, a colonial assembly was created to share power with
a governor who was appointed by Britain's king. All the grants England
had issued accrued to become a significantly large area with a growing
population. There were 13 colonies, stretching from Maine2 to Georgia. There were three distinct regions: In
the middle of the 18th century, the colonies were made up of about 1.5
million citizens. The people were generally situated along the Atlantic
coast, and some states didn't even bother with establishing borders
that were too far inland. People began to look back at the Virginia
House of Burgesses and the Mayflower Compact, early forms of
self-government. Each colony had a different type of government: some
were controlled by the British King entirely, some mostly owned by
individuals, and some were left to themselves. Basically, each state
had a governor, a council and an assembly. For a law to pass, it had to
be approved by the assembly, the governor and the British government. In
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, the governor was appointed by the
King, and he in turn appointed his council; the assembly being
democratically elected. In Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, the
owner or owners of the colony appointed the governor, who selected his
council, and the assembly was elected. In Rhode Island and Connecticut,
the governor, the council and the assembly were all elected by the
citizens. Of course, in each state there were some restrictions on who
could be elected. As the south grew, slavery grew as well. One of
the worst chapters in the history of America is the slave trade and the
continuing demand for new slaves in the South. None of the colonies
were entirely blameless in this - though the South received most of the
slaves, the slave trade was helped in part by the New England sailors.
Another dark chapter of American history is the way the country handled
the native Americans - forcefully ejecting them from their land to make
way for the white settlers. Taxes and Rebellion Several
small wars were fought in the colonies: King William's War, Queen
Anne's War, and a somewhat more important conflict, the French and
Indian War3.
The rich and useful Ohio country was contested by the French and the
English. In 1754, a young Virginian officer named George Washington led
a group of his countrymen into the fight. After slaughtering a few too
many Frenchmen, Washington set up Fort Necessity in anticipation of a
French response. He was then forced to surrender the fort in the face
of French agression. The war effort under Washington was not
going very well, so the English pumped as much of their resources as
possible into the war, and captured Forts Duquesne and Ticonderoga and
the Canadian cities of Québec and Montréal. The war ended
with the Treaty of Paris, in which the French gave up all their land
east of the Mississippi except for the city of New Orleans. After the treaty, a group of native Americans under Pontiac
set out to destroy the British control in the west, but their rebellion
was put down. As this unfolded, the King of Britain issued the
Proclamation of 1763 to end colonial expansion west of the Appalachian
Mountains. Britain also set harsh taxes on the colonies to pay off the
debts that had been caused by the Seven Years' War. Americans weren't
happy with this, and the colonists began to dream of independence. With
more taxes and unpopular decisions by the crown, rebellion started to
grow more and more favourable to many Americans. The tight grip on the
colonies was choking them: for instance, the Quartering Act forced
colonists to provide their houses for the use of British soldiers. The
Sugar Act and the Stamp Act raised taxes incredibly high on food
imports and paper goods, respectively. Merchants couldn't pay the Sugar
Act and turn a profit; people refused to allow soldiers to live in
their homes and the Stamp Act was viciously attacked by many colonists.
A group calling themselves the Sons of Liberty was organised, and they
kept themselves busy by attacking tax collectors. A congress of
delegates from nine of the colonies was assembled regarding the Stamp
Act, and they sent a protest to King George III, believing that the
colonies should tax the colonists. Colonial merchants boycotted London
goods, which hurt Britain. The Stamp Act was repealed, but in its place
came a demoralizing law saying that the colonies were subject to the
authority of the British. After this, Charles Townsend became the
British Chancellor of the Exchequer and England instituted duties on
certain goods going into the colonies. Many Americans either smuggled
the goods in or simply refused to buy them. Virginia and
Massachusetts emerged as hotbeds of rebellion. In Boston, there was so
much energy for rebellion that British troops were stationed to keep
the peace and uphold the laws. Unfortunately, as Bostonians had to
provide homes for the troops and so they were less than peaceful. On 5
March, 1770, as a group of people taunted British soldiers near the
Customs House, soldiers fired on the taunters and five people were
killed. This became known as the Boston Massacre. The British
government responded by repealing all the taxes except for the tax on
tea - after all, they couldn't be seen as surrendering their right to
tax the colonies. One might think that with only a single tax,
the colonists would leave well enough alone. But the Americans, still
outraged by the Boston Massacre, and despite the repeal of most taxes,
began organising. Samuel Adams founded the Committee of Correspondence,
which was supposed to keep communications on British activities open
between colonists and keep information flowing, as well as incite
rebellion. In the Committee, there emerged several future leaders. In
1773, the Tea Act was passed, which threatened to destroy the profits
of the tea merchants in the colonies. Naturally, the people responded.
On 16 December, about 50 men of the Sons of Liberty group, disguised as
Mohawks, boarded three ships in Boston Harbour and threw all the
British tea in the ships into the water. Now known as the 'Boston Tea
Party', it outraged the British government. In response to the
Boston Tea Party, the British passed the 'Intolerable Acts' in 1774,
which closed Boston Harbour, destroyed self-government in Massachusetts
and restricted the right to assembly. It was believed that these would
punish and demoralise Massachusetts, but they had the opposite effect,
and the colonies banded together in protest. The Virginia House of
Burgesses called for each of the colonies to send representatives to
form a united protest. The first Continental Congress was made up
of 56 delegates from all of the colonies but Georgia. In Philadelphia,
they declared the Intolerable Acts void, declared a boycott against
Britain, asked residents of Massachusetts to refuse to pay taxes,
organised a militia, sent protests to King George and planned another
meeting. In turn, Britain sent more troops into America. So You Say You Want A Revolution... The
British learned of an arsenal at Concord, Massachusetts and sent about
700 men to raid it. However, the colonists had planned ahead and so
were able to alert the 'minutemen'4
guarding the area. A light from the Old North Church alerted two men,
Paul Revere and William Dawson, that the British were mobilising. They
rode on horses to alert the people and militiamen of the British
advance. The British met a force about a tenth its size at
Lexington, and were able to move on to Concord. The Americans sent the
British back, and the minutemen in the following towns were able to
inflict considerable damage on the British army. There were about 300
British casualties. The Second Continental Congress was convened
in Philadelphia on 10 May, 1775. It made several important decisions.
George Washington, due to his experience in the French and Indian War,
was appointed commander of American forces. The Congress asked Britain
not to attack the colonies again and asked each of the colonies to send
troops to assist those in Massachusetts. The next major military
conflict was the Battle of Bunker Hill. The colonist soldiers were
entrenched around Boston at Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill. The Americans
lost the hills after three charges, but the British suffered heavy
casualties. In July, America sent the 'Olive Branch Petition' to reach
an agreement with Britain. The colonies didn't truly want independence
yet, many people just wanted the taxes repealed. The King turned the
petition away, and declared that the colonies were in revolt. Independence The
Second Continental Congress met again in May after the news from
England, and moved to draw up a Declaration of Independence. Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston and Roger
Sherman were assigned to the task of drafting the document. On 4 July,
1776 the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, and declared
the colonies to be independent from Britain. The American
Revolution carried on. Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys took
Fort Ticonderoga and the British left Boston to move up into Canada.
General Howe of the British took New York City. However, Washington
scored victories at Trenton and Princeton after crossing the Delaware
River. The British decided to bring all their forces together to
control the Hudson River Valley, but this didn't quite work. Generals
Burgoyne and Washington faced off at Saratoga, and Burgoyne
surrendered, which ended up becoming the turning point of the
Revolution. Soon after, the French signed a treaty with the Americans
to support their cause. In 1781, Lord Cornwallis moved through
the South to attack Virginia. The only forces to oppose him were under
the French officer Marquis de Lafayette, and he managed to delay
Cornwallis. Washington and the French general Rochambeau moved into
Virginia and the French navy took control of the Chesapeake Bay,
trapping Cornwallis. He was completely surrounded, and had to surrender
at Yorktown. A few insignificant battles were fought after this, but
the war was basically over and America was independent. The Treaty of
Paris was signed between America and Britain in 1783, and the new
country not only gained its independence but rights to the Ohio River
Valley and fishing rights in Canadian waters. Post-Bellum A
revolution isn't complete until a new government was established, and
the first one was based around the Articles of Confederation. It gave
most of the power to the states, and the national Congress's power was
completely insignificant. The articles proved to be flawed, rebellion
broke out and a new government had to be created. In May 1787, 55
delegates met in Philadelphia. The greatest political and war leaders
were present. James Madison was an avid notetaker and full of ideas.
George Washington was President of the convention. Benjamin Franklin
was the most senior among them - into his eighties by this time.
Alexander Hamilton, the foremost immigrant, was also there. The most
notable absence was Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of
Indepedence, who was serving as minister to Spain. The meetings
were long and hot. They had to be conducted in secret, and the door was
shut. Tension often ran high, and passion higher. Whenever the debate
was becoming too heated, Ben Franklin, thought to be the wisest as he
was the eldest, would calm the delegates with a funny anecdote. The
presence of George Washington, the living legend, added credibility and
dignity to the convention. They slowly wrote out a new document
detailing the future government of the United States. James Madison
contributed many of the ideas, but there were some difficult issues.
States with large populations would prefer a Congress based on
population - with more representatives from states with more people.
Smaller states didn't want to be forgotten, so they wanted equal
representation for each state. A great compromise was worked out,
where there would be two houses of Congress: one with representatives
determined by the population of the state and one where each state sent
two representatives. Once this was agreed upon, another issue arose.
Since each state wanted more representation than everyone else, and
slaves made up a sizeable portion of the Southern population, the slave
states wanted slaves to count in their population quota to determine
how many representatives they received. It was decided that for every
five slaves, three would count towards representation, now known as the
infamous Three-Fifths Compromise. Many other elements of the
American government were decided upon, and remained flexible because an
amendment process was built into the fundamental workings of the
government. In fact, this is just how the United States Constitution
came into place. Each state eventually agreed to the Constitution, with
most of the greatest leaders of the time supporting it. It was ratified
once it was promised that it would be amended to contain a Bill of
Rights. The Republic The
first president was elected in 1789, and it was George Washington, with
John Adams serving as vice president. Washington served for two terms,
and the president after him was John Adams. In his farewell address,
Washington called on America to avoid foreign treaties and political
parties. During the presidency of John Adams, the
Democratic-Republicans (known as the Republicans for short, but
eventually becoming what are the modern Democrats) grew in power and in
order to keep them from taking over the Federalists (the main opposing
party), the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts were passed. These made it
harder for immigrants (who would favour the Republicans) to vote and
made it illegal to speak ill of the government. In the election of 18005,
Thomas Jefferson, on the Republican ticket, became president. This was
the first peaceful handover from one party to the other in American
history. During Jefferson's presidency, the Louisiana Territory was
bought from France at a light price, and Lewis and Clark explored
America to the Pacific. Britain and France fought over the ports
of America, and kept the new country from trading freely. Jefferson got
tired of the continuing conflict, and passed the Embargo Act of 1807,
which made it illegal for American ships to trade in foreign ports.
Smuggling made the Act somewhat ineffective, but trade soon resumed
with all countries except Britain and France. In 1809, James Madison
assumed the presidency, and he was rather annoyed with Britain. They
had been forcing American soldiers into their navy, encouraging Indian
resistance in the west, and preventing trade with other countries.
America declared war on Britain on 18 June, 1812. The War of 1812 The War of 1812
was probably an ill-advised conflict. The country wasn't nearly strong
enough to win a war with Britain, and once Britain temporarily
concluded its war with Napoleon Bonaparte
in 1814 it was able to direct all its resources against America. The
British destroyed the new capital city of Washington DC. Legend has it
that the first lady6 herself saved many of the important documents as the British burned the White House. The
most important American victory in the war was the Battle of New
Orleans, in which US troops under General Andrew Jackson captured New
Orleans and suffered far fewer casualties than the British. Remarkably,
the battle was fought after the Treaty of Ghent ended the war, so it
did not need fighting. The treaty stopped a number of New England
states (where the war was unpopular) from seceding. Growth Following
the War of 1812, there was a general feeling of unity in the country.
The Federalist party lost power, and the Republicans won the Presidency
in 1816 and 1820 with James Monroe. His time as president is known as
the 'Era of Good Feelings'. The country grew during this time.
High tariffs were levied on British goods, internal improvements were
made within the country and a national bank was set up to handle the
country's money and issue national currency. Industry expanded, and in
1819 so did the country. In the Adams-Onis treaty, America gained
Florida for five million dollars. Land from Canada was gained, the
border with Canada was set, and a temporary solution to the dispute
over the Oregon country was created. In 1823, James Monroe, on the
advice of his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, declared that the
Americas were closed to further colonisation, an edict which became
known as the Monroe Doctrine. In 1824, John Quincy Adams was
elected as President, following one of the messiest elections ever.
Andrew Jackson won the most votes, but lost the presidency. When there
was no majority in the electoral college, the vote went to the House of
Representatives. Henry Clay, the most powerful man in the House,
convinced many people to vote for John Quincy Adams, and he was
elected. Clay was appointed Secretary of State, and Jackson declared
that there had been a 'corrupt bargain'. Adams was unpopular, and
unable to get anything done during his time in office. With this
election, a regional rift was widened. The South, North and West were
all very different places culturally. Eventually, the North and South7
were trying to gain an advantage of power over each other. The Missouri
Compromise established a tradition of entering a free and a slave state
into the Union at the same time, in order to preserve the balance of
power, and so no one had an advantage. The Jacksonian Democracy In
1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president. He was originally a common
man and was also a war hero, so he won in a landslide. He instituted a
spoils system, whereby people who supported him were appointed to
government jobs. He also faced the Nullification Crisis - proponents of
states' rights believed that a state had the ability to declare a law
null and void. War nearly began in South Carolina, but Henry Clay,
known as the 'Great Compromiser', pushed a successful compromise
through Congress. Jackson left office, to be succeeded by his
vice president Martin Van Buren. Van Buren had a problem, as Jackson
had decentralized the currency of the US into dozens of small banks.
Van Buren was blamed for the ensuing economic problems. After
this, the Whig Party was born. Van Buren was defeated for reelection by
William Henry Harrison, a war hero, who died about a month into office
due to pneumonia, which he caught during his lengthly inaugural
address. John Tyler, Harrison's vice president, took office. Manifest Destiny As Americans became
a bit more tightly packed, its citizens looked to the Pacific. America
shared rights of the Oregon country with Great Britain, but there were
many more Americans than British in the area by the 1830s. America
gained most of the territory up to the 49th parallel in 1846. As
in Oregon, there were many Americans in the Mexican region of Texas.
They were becoming increasingly unhappy with Mexican rule, and began to
move for independence. They won their war of independence - notable for
the famous Battle of the Alamo, where a small group of people held off
a huge army. Texas became the Lone Star Republic, before it was annexed
into the United States in 1845. Mexico broke off diplomatic relations
with the US in response. The Mexican-American War would begin with the
belief that the Rio Grande River was the southern border of Texas. In
California, there were about 700 Americans by 1845. After James Polk
was elected, he told the Americans there to rebel against the Mexican
rule. They managed to gain their independence, and raised a flag with a
bear on it, so this was called the 'Bear Flag Revolt'. As this was
during the war with Mexico, the US declared California to be an
American territory in 1846. Mexican troops were driven out of
California. In the Mexican-American War, America hoped to gain
Mexican lands between Texas and the Pacific. General Zachary Taylor won
the war for America, and the nation gained the land that would
eventually become California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and parts of
Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. With the Gadsen Purchase of 1853,
what we now know as the Continental United States was complete. Meanwhile,
tension was growing between pro-slavery and anti-slavery people. More
and more people opposed slavery as time went on, and the Southerners
who needed slavery because of the economic advantage felt more and more
threatened. In 1850, Zachary Taylor became President. Henry Clay
proposed a compromise that would satisfy both sides on several key
issues and put off secession. He proposed that slavery be abolished in
Washington, DC and that California be admitted into the Union as a free
state, that the land from Mexico be divided into two territories which
would decide for themselves if they wanted to be free or slave states
and that the Fugitive Slave Law be passed, requiring people to help
return escaped slaves to their owner. Intense debate followed,
but Clay's compromise managed to pass. He had singlehandedly delayed
the American Civil War for ten years. In 1852, Franklin Pierce was
elected President. In 1854, Stephen A Douglas worked to pass
(successfully) the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri
Compromise and allowed each state to decide for itself whether it would
allow slavery or not. This sparked the beginning of the Republican
Party, a group dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery. The
Whig party didn't have a set policy on slavery, and it didn't have the
ability to make compromises due to the death of Henry Clay in 1852, so
it was destined to die out. The Republicans fielded John C Fremont as
their choice for president, and he did pretty well for a new party's
candidate, but James Buchanan won the election. In the famed Dred Scott
Decision, the Supreme Court decided in 1857 that a slave did not have
the constitutional right to sue for his freedom. This mobilized the
Republicans more than ever. The Civil War In
1860, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. The
Democrats were unable to present a united front against Lincoln, and
the northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, while the southern
Democrats nominated John C Breckinridge. Lincoln won the electoral
vote, despite winning only 40% of the popular vote. The South was
afraid that if Lincoln was allowed to remain the president, he would do
away with slavery. In defiance, they attacked an American military fort
in South Carolina and, when met with resistance, seceded from the
Union. The Civil War
was fought, with more Americans dying in it than in any other war in
the country's history. In the end, Lincoln and the North managed to
win, and the country was united again - with the bonus of having
slavery abolished. Lincoln was assassinated on 15 April, 1865 by
John Wilkes Booth. He was succeeded by Andrew Johnson, who was largely
unable to continue the post-war Reconstruction policies of Lincoln, and
was the first president to be impeached. Eventually, each of the
seceded states was allowed to return to the Union, and America became
prosperous again. More Growth After
the Civil War, a huge surge of industrial growth occurred. Huge
companies were formed, and incredibly rich men such as John D
Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie held monopolies on entire industries.
Many men made their wealth in railroads, which revolutionized industry
in the latter part of the 1800s. Important inventions were made during
the era, such as the telegraph, the telephone and the lightbulb.
Railroads were laid quicker than one could imagine, and automobiles and
even aeroplanes were constructed. While huge profits made
philanthrophists out of the Rockefellers and Carnegies, the middle and
lower class were suffering. As a result, unions were formed to make
labour conditions better. Cities grew as industry became more
important, though the government became more corrupt and reform was
pushed. Spain ruled the island of Cuba at this time, treating the
native Cubans badly. William McKinley sent the US Navy to Cuba to
protect American property and citizens. On 15 February, 1898, the USS Maine
exploded in Havana harbour, killing 266 Americans. The American public
believed Spain was behind the explosion, and America declared war on
Spain to ensure Cuban independence. The Navy used its great power to
block off the island from Spain, and sent 17,000 soldiers to control
the island - including the famous 'Rough Riders' led by Theodore
Roosevelt. A peace treaty was signed on 10 December, 1898 in
Paris. Spain gave up Cuba, Puerto Rico and Guam and sold the Philippine
Islands to the US. The World Wars World War I World
War I began in Europe well before America joined the Allied effort.
President Woodrow Wilson kept the country neutral, but an attack on the
ocean liner Lusitania on 7 May, 1915 by German ships made the
Americans very angry. Germany said that it would stop sinking passenger
boats without warning. However, Wilson was forced into war when Germany
revoked its promise, and the Zimmerman Telegram was discovered - a
message asking for Mexico's support in a war against America. The
United States was forced to join the Allies. Within a quarter of
a year, more than one million people in America joined the army. Huge
amounts of supplies would be used in the war and many people would
volunteer. Their patriotism helped Americans comply with rationing,
drafts and war bonds. Women filled jobs left by men as men rushed into
combat. Of course, the Allies prevailed over the Central Powers
eventually and America helped rebuild the European nations hurt by war. After
World War I, feminism swept the country and the suffrage movement
gained momentum. Americans became more distrustful of foreigners, and
immigration was slowed. They were also scared of communism and its
influence on American society. Calvin Coolidge took office as President
in 1923, and encouraged business by raising tariffs, lowering taxes and
not enforcing monopoly and antitrust laws. This resulted in a period of
great prosperity in the 1920s and a boom of industry. The Great Depression On
29 October, 1929, 16 million shares of stock were sold, but there was
no one to buy them. The market crashed. More than a thousand banks
failed, thousands of businesses failed and industry and agriculture was
producing half their usual revenue. There were 12 million unemployed
Americans. The President at the time, Herbert Hoover, refused to
intervene with the economy, as he thought that it wasn't the
government's place. Villages of shanties set up for people without
homes would be called 'Hoovervilles'. In the election of 1932, Franklin
D Roosevelt was elected President in a landslide, and he began
instituting a 'New Deal'. Roosevelt began huge projects and made
several regulations in an attempt to recover from the Depression. He
tried to increase home ownership and bring banking back to prosperity.
One important item on Roosevelt's agenda was the Social Security Act.
Meanwhile, World War II was raging in Europe, and America wanted to
stay out of the conflict. Neutrality dissolved, however, as America
sent several ships to Britain in return for some bases near America. It
also lifted an arms embargo. Roosevelt said that the US had to be
an arsenal of democracy, and fight German Nazis... if indirectly at
first. He sent even more weapons to Britain as a part of the Lend-Lease
Act. On 7 December, 1941, however, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was attacked by
naval and air forces. This propelled America to war, and the country
declared war on the Axis Powers. America notoriously sent 100,000
Japanese people to relocation camps away from the Pacific Coast. World War II The
country rose to meet its enemies. They had to fight on two fronts:
against the Japanese in the Pacific and against the Axis Powers in
Europe. The most important attack for the United States was D-Day,
where US, British and Canadian troops began the liberation of Europe.
After many long years of battle, Germany surrendered on 8 May, 1945.
Japan did not submit though, and it was known that a large scale
invasion of Japan would be costly in lives, so two atomic bombs were
dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: a decision
still controversial today. Japan surrendered on 14 August. All
the production and employment in World War II pulled America together,
and the world generally recovered. Peace was achieved quickly, and the
armies soon came back to America. Franklin Roosevelt had died during
the course of the war, and Harry Truman took the office. He instituted
the Truman Doctrine, which essentially said that America should assist
people trying to be free. The Cold War As
the second World War ended, another war began. The Cold War between the
US and Russia would occupy the minds of Americans for many decades. As
the Soviet Union and the US both occupied Berlin, they confronted each other there often. Just
like in Berlin, the country of Korea was divided into sectors following
World War II. Neither side would agree to reunite these halves of
Korea, and they stayed divided. North Koreans sent some of their
soldiers into South Korea and America responded, because they felt that
another communist country in the region8
would be a very bad idea. A difficult war ensued, and it demonstrated
how the country would fight against the growth of communism. Back in America, many were afraid of communists in the government. Joseph McCarthy
headed the House Un-American Activities Committee and charged that
there were communists in high positions with the famous quote 'Are you
or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?' Julius and
Ethel Rosenberg were executed for allegedly stealing atomic bomb
secrets in 1953. Dwight D Eisenhower, a respected and heroic figure,
was elected President in 1952, reigning over a period of conservatism
and anti-communist feelings. The time was extremely prosperous. It was
also under Eisenhower that the Soviet Union and America began an arms
race. John
F Kennedy was elected President in 1960, and helped bring a time of
hope and prosperity. He was young and charismatic, and he inspired
Americans. The Cuban Missile Crisis
was the closest that the country really ever got to nuclear war with
the Soviet Union. Kennedy proved to be a strong leader and dreamed of
America landing on the moon by the end of the decade. He was
assassinated on 22 November, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon Johnson was his successor. Johnson pushed a 'Great Society' domestic plan, but escalated the infamous Vietnam War. Civil
Rights were important in the 1960s, with great speakers like Martin
Luther King, Jr stirring peaceful protest and civil disobedience.
Johnson, an expert political craftsman, was able to push the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 through Congress and make it law. Johnson was also
chief executive during the height of the Vietnam War. Enormous numbers
of troops were used to fight communism in the Asian country. The war
was largely unpopular, especially with younger people such as
university students. Richard M Nixon
was elected to the high office in 1968, and attempted to lower the
troop levels in Vietnam, but his move into Cambodia and Laos was
unpopular. During his time in office, Americans made it to the moon in
1969. He resigned from office in disgrace following the huge political
scandal of Watergate. His vice president Spiro Agnew having resigned,
Gerald Ford took the office. Ford wasn't reelected, and Jimmy Carter
took office in 1976. His presidency was noted mainly for the Iran
hostage crisis, but also for the many liberal reforms that Carter
undertook. In 1980, former California governor and actor Ronald Reagan
was elected to the presidency. His Reagan-omics, ending of the Cold
War, Iran-Contra Affair and unique politics defined an era. The Modern Era Reagan's
vice president George HW Bush (George Bush Snr) was elected President
after Reagan's second term ended and a recession hit America. Bush led
the US and former USSR in dismantling nuclear weapons. He was popular
for his successes in the Gulf War, but was unable to make the economy
pick up, so he lost to Bill Clinton in the election of 1992. Clinton
had several important accomplishments - the economy did improve, he
mediated between the Palestineans and Israelis, and America entered the
North Atlantic Free Trade Organisation (NAFTA). Clinton was reelected
in 1996, and was remembered in his second term for his Whitewater
'Scandal' and the Monica Lewinsky Affair. In 2000, George W Bush
was elected in one of the most contested election battles in history.
On September 11, 2001, the famous World Trade Center Twin Towers were
destroyed upon the impact of two aeroplanes, and another plane in
Washington DC attacked the Pentagon. The disaster killed around 3,000
people, prompting a 'war on terror'. Bush's eight-year Presidency was
generally judged to be a failure and contemporary historians who were
polled consistently rated his Presidency as one of America's worst. His
successor was a somewhat obscure African-American Senator from Illinois
(the first non-white male to hold the office) named Barack Obama,
elected in a landslide in 2008. History awaits the verdict on the Obama
era. Source: http://bbc.co.uk |