The American history has come a long way since the fifteenth century to the twenty-first century. Across the protracted arc of the American history, there are various significant events that have shaped America. The history of the American nation is extremely rich and involves a number of events such as the revolutionary war, the ratification of the US constitution, the 1824 elections, the Jacksonian democracy, the 1812 war, the great depression, and the Second World War amongst others. However, three specific events; the American Revolution, the Great Depression and the Second World War, inexplicably determined the progression of America as a country. Each event respectively condensed the experience and defined the historical bequest of a century. Each event is comprised of a couple of episodes with permanent transformative effects. This paper explores the three events, highlighting the significance of each event to the American people.
There is no moment in the history of the American nation, which was so implausible during its time, has been understood to be inexorable as the American Revolution. The revolutionary war is among the ultimate turning points in the American civilization. It started in 1763 when the Americans questioned the British intrusions into their economic progress and civil lies (Morton 12). The Revolutionary war was founded on various events and ideas that combined well resulting in political and social separation of the British colonies from the home country and a slashing of its anterior colonies into one independent and sovereign nation. The perilous antecedent to the revolution was the conceptual action; the American enlightenment. This action had some concepts and ideas, with the principal impressions being independence, liberalism, republicanism. Mutually the espousal of these notions by revolutionaries started nurturing an intellectual disbursement which would result in a new sense of political and social character. The Anglo-American colonists who were devoted to the British alleged that governments were planned to serve the citizenry hence they endeavored to establish a government for themselves. The philosophies of liberalism and republicanism were facades of the American social fabric that debatably had the utmost effect on the independence struggle and the institution of a legitimate government in the U.S. (Morton 12). After conquering the Revolutionary war and setting plans for a revolutionary disbursement, the Americans had to establish stable state governments for them to realize the objectives that educated the Revolutionary war.
The second event which shaped the U.S. is the Great Depression that took place between 1929 and 1945(Shi and Holly 28). It was a global catastrophe whose bases and imports alike were universal in character. As stated by President Herbert Hoover, the primary cause was the First World War. Historians and economists carry on debating on the adjacent causes of the Great depression to date. Nonetheless, even after due allowance was made for the impacts of the 1929 Great crash of the U.S. stock market, and the U.S. Federal Reserve System, the main roots of the crisis can be ascertained to be numerous chronic maladies inflicted on the global economic and political order by the First World War (Shi and Holly 32).
The war took a cruel human and economic toll from the basic societies of the industrialized nations. The persistent distortions in capital flows, trade and exchange rates induced by the retaliatory Treaty of Versailles, were able to preserve in peacetime the economic distractions that had produced excess hardship during the time. The memories of the bitter fighting and implacable conclusion of the First World War made the postwar global atmosphere toxic. The U.S. had taken part in the war only marginally, but the involvement was amply dear that Americans turned their nation distinctly inward in the 1920s (Shi and Holly 34. The American affluence in the 1920s was factual enough, but it was not practically strong. Many immigrants who had flocked the crowded industrial cities in the previous decades remained economically precarious and socially parochial in resolute ethnic ghettoes. More maladies were to follow, and soon the depression was soon to unfold. The Great Crash of 1929, saw the plummeting of stock prices, and soon thousands of businesses collapsed. As a result, many people were rendered jobless, and by 1932, over 13 million Americans were unemployed. That meant a 25 % rate of unemployment, implying that one in every four homes lacked breadwinners. As a result, many Americans grew impatient as they were experiencing another economic, political, and social downfall.
The third event, the Second World War, a dominant event of the 20th century. The Americans were not willing and ready to take part in any European War, following the First World War. However, the inevitable came when the Japanese war planes launched surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor Naval base. This attack triggered a war declaration by the U.S, but it would take several months before the U.S engaged in military action. The U.S. joined forces with its allies halting the Japanese expansion at the Battle of Midway in 1942, and a year later in Burma, China and India (Shi and Holly 142). After a devastating loss, the Japanese would later on in 1945, surrender, bringing the war to an end. Although many American died in the war, the Second World War was a success to the Americans. It brought the Great Depression to an end, by increasing the presence of government in the American life. In the course of the war, most if not all, of the unemployed Americans found new opportunities, and as a result the U.S. economy grew drastically
In conclusion, the history of the American nation is composed of many events that significantly shaped the nations. Nevertheless, three specific events; the American Revolution, the Great Depression and the Second World War, inexplicably determined the progression of America as a country. The American Revolution is the ultimate turning point of the American civilization. It started in 1763 when the Americans questioned the British intrusions into their economic progress and civil lies and ended with the U.S being a sovereign state. The second event, the great depression was an outcome of the First World War. The war took a cruel human and economic toll from the basic societies of the industrialized nations including the U.S., as a result; many Americans grew impatient as they were experiencing another economic, political, and social downfall. The third significant event is the Second World War, it brought the maladies surrounding the Great depression to an end. Although many American died in the war, the Second World War was a success to the Americans, because it brought the unemployment rate to a zero.
Works Cited
Morton, Joseph C. The American Revolution. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2003. Print.
Shi, David E, and Holly A. Mayer. For the Record: A Documentary History of America. , 2013. Print.
