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Using a criterion of identifying those points at which the American system -- and both the democratic process and the open econmomy which sustains it were injeapoardy, I'll cite three'
First and foremost, by a huge margin; The Civil War -- including its origins and aftermath. It arose because of fundamental, and irreconcillabe conflicts within the American Costitution itself -- after an unprecedented bloodletting, some suspension of individual rights had to be used as a stop-gap measure, and the problem of millions of people of color recently "liberated" but seldom possessed of even rudimentary economic understanding. had to be addressed. Somehow, we go through it.
Second:
Quote:
Originally Posted by VJDAY81445
Worst era? the depression of the 1930's
no safety nets were in place
This is a fair criticisim, but a gross oversimplification; At the time of the Crash of 1929, about half of all Americans still lived on farms, or were not far removed from the agrarian economy. And of course, many of these were the descendents of the slaves liberated seventy years previously, or whites surviving by tenant farming and sharecropping -- many soon to be Okies and Arkies in the near future.
And many of those in the cities were recent immigrants from eastern and southern Euriope, speaking English as a second language and practicing a from of Christianity that made some of their Protestant neighbors, supervisors and landlords uneasy. It's not common knowledge today that in the rapidly-industrializing America of the Twenties, many of these people actuallly made more on an hourly pasis than their more-assimilated co-woerkers in the skilled trades -- but they paid for it with far greater risks to life and limb on the job, and a very small "safety net", if any.
So my point is that while many peole had access to a "safety net" -- it was neither evenly accessible, nor uniformly administered. The New Deal corrected that, but it also paved the way for a self -perpetuating bureaucracy with far too much power.
For the third, I'll cite the earliest and most intense period of American industrialization -- roughly 1890-1910. It set the stage for millions of Americans to escape the limits and tedium of being chained to the land via subsistence farming, but it also led to an all-time high of accidental deaths and dismemberments, both in industry and daily life. More important to me, however, is that the emerging media culture of the time, which continues in some quarters to this day, tendsed to send a message to the man or woman in the street that he/she actually held little say in the democratic prcess; that discontent could be used to fuel the rise of figures more prone toward both ideology and the expansion of the paternalistc, bureaucratic state, and both major parties provided examples in the form of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
The end result, for better or for worse, was that the Ameican nation was drawn into the conflicts within a European clique which was determined to settle its differences by unprecedented bloodletting. When that ugly chapter finally ended, the idealistic Wilson was further duped into participating in the cration of a faux peace which spawned even worse examples of man's inhumanity to man.
Using a criterion of identifying those points at which the American system -- and both the democratic process and the open econmomy which sustains it were injeapoardy, I'll cite three'
First and foremost, by a huge margin; The Civil War -- including its origins and aftermath. It arose because of fundamental, and irreconcillabe conflicts within the American Costitution itself -- after an unprecedented bloodletting, some suspension of individual rights had to be used as a stop-gap measure, and the problem of millions of people of color recently "liberated" but seldom possessed of even rudimentary economic understanding. had to be addressed. Somehow, we go through it.
Second:
This is a fair criticisim, but a gross oversimplification; At the time of the Crash of 1929, about half of all Americans still lived on farms, or were not far removed from the agrarian economy. And of course, many of these were the descendents of the slaves liberated seventy years previously, or whites surviving by tenant farming and sharecropping -- many soon to be Okies and Arkies in the near future.
And many of those in the cities were recent immigrants from eastern and southern Euriope, speaking English as a second language and practicing a from of Christianity that made some of their Protestant neighbors, supervisors and landlords uneasy. It's not common knowledge today that in the rapidly-industrializing America of the Twenties, many of these people actuallly made more on an hourly pasis than their more-assimilated co-woerkers in the skilled trades -- but they paid for it with far greater risks to life and limb on the job, and a very small "safety net", if any.
So my point is that while many peole had access to a "safety net" -- it was neither evenly accessible, nor uniformly administered. The New Deal corrected that, but it also paved the way for a self -perpetuating bureaucracy with far too much power.
For the third, I'll cite the earliest and most intense period of American industrialization -- roughly 1890-1910. It set the stage for millions of Americans to escape the limits and tedium of being chained to the land via subsistence farming, but it also led to an all-time high of accidental deaths and dismemberments, both in industry and daily life. More important to me, however, is that the emerging media culture of the time, which continues in some quarters to this day, tendsed to send a message to the man or woman in the street that he/she actually held little say in the democratic prcess; that discontent could be used to fuel the rise of figures more prone toward both ideology and the expansion of the paternalistc, bureaucratic state, and both major parties provided examples in the form of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
The end result, for better or for worse, was that the Ameican nation was drawn into the conflicts within a European clique which was determined to settle its differences by unprecedented bloodletting. When that ugly chapter finally ended, the idealistic Wilson was further duped into participating in the cration of a faux peace which spawned even worse examples of man's inhumanity to man.
......"about half of all Americans still lived on farms ".
As did my father 1890-1973
He talked often about the hardships of that era and how bleak it was ( He said FDR gave hope)
What you fail to realize is the 1930's was the era of severe drought and summers where many of the all time records for daily highs still stand 80 years later.
My dad talked of farmers cutting trees down in hopes their cattle could stay alive by eating the leaves.
My dad was a farmer all his life and said the depression era was the worst due to the economy and heat and severe drought. Three blows at once.
Outside of the Civil War and the Great Depression, in my opinion the late 19th to early 20th century was the "worst' period in American history. The period that I have in mind was an era of incredible labor violence, racial terrorism, and anti-immigrant hysteria, see Ludlow, lynchings, and the Palmer Raids.
1. The Intrusion of this land and displacement of native Americans
2. Slavery
3. Jim Crow
4. The Great Depression
5. The two terms of George Bush
6. Post-Bush emergence of Color-blind racism and the new Jim Crow
7. Civil War
8. The 60s and the murder of MLK, Malcolm X, JFK, and RFK
9. The creation of a Constitution by a bunch of men ignorant enough to believe that Slavery would last forever
10. The period characterized by a Congress led by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and a John Roberts' Supreme Court which is right-leaning.
Yes, but the key words in the Op were 'American History' not Polish, French, Ukranian, or any other country.
There was no major military invasion of the USA in WW2 unlike the rest of the countries I mentioned. Plus there was much more deaths in some other countries. Thei USA and Australia economy was in so much better shape than any other country at the end of WW2.
The American Civil War was the worst era of American history.
1. The Intrusion of this land and displacement of native Americans
2. Slavery
3. Jim Crow
4. The Great Depression
5. The two terms of George Bush
6. Post-Bush emergence of Color-blind racism and the new Jim Crow
7. Civil War
8. The 60s and the murder of MLK, Malcolm X, JFK, and RFK
9. The creation of a Constitution by a bunch of men ignorant enough to believe that Slavery would last forever
10. The period characterized by a Congress led by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and a John Roberts' Supreme Court which is right-leaning.
So only the 1970's-2000 escape being 'worst eras in American history'. Good to know.
1. The Intrusion of this land and displacement of native Americans
2. Slavery
3. Jim Crow
4. The Great Depression
5. The two terms of George Bush
6. Post-Bush emergence of Color-blind racism and the new Jim Crow
7. Civil War
8. The 60s and the murder of MLK, Malcolm X, JFK, and RFK
9. The creation of a Constitution by a bunch of men ignorant enough to believe that Slavery would last forever
10. The period characterized by a Congress led by John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and a John Roberts' Supreme Court which is right-leaning.
Point #1: Various societies and ethnic groups have been displaced, or even exterminated since the beginning of recorded history -- including some recent and very ugly actions in supposedly - "more civilized" Europe. And one of the most enthusiastic participants in the removal of the civilized tribes from the American South was none other than that "great commoner", Andrew Jackson -- the original Democrat.
Point #2: Slavery existed everywhere in the world at one time, and was disappearing everywhere by 1800; circumstances unique to the Kingdom of Cotton prolonged it in the United States, but it would have died out in any case. And slavery continued in some areas - most notably, the Persian Gulf - for a number of years after 1865.
Point #3: Jim Crow was a necessary sop to low-caste Southern whites who had lost as much - on a relative basis - as the landed gentry. The alternative would likely have been partisan-style warfare that prolonged Reconstruction, or made it impossible.
Point #4: Big Brother can't forestall the corrections necessary to an open economy; he can only tie down the "safety valves", and worsen the impact when the bill comes due. That sagacious decision repeated itself in 2008 -- and it appears that we're already setting ourselves up for "Act III" -- if the self-appointed "experts" can find a way to lay the blame at the doorstep of open markets and free enterprise, instead of the real cause -- government interference in the name of some fantasy of "greater common good".
Point #6; Let's cut the fodder for the young and impressionable and come up with some serious examples other than a parallel to the class-warfare the Lefties peddle
Point #7 We actually agree on something -- but not on the folly that led to it.
Point #9; The Constitution was flawed, but it was the best the collective, collaborative process of the times could produce. The British Constitution is unwritten, and the French blew the job a lot sooner and with a lot more bloodshed.
Points #5, #8, and #10 are just so much "sour grapes"; it's time to grow up and deal with realities rather than simple, sensational answers intended only for those gullible enough to swallow them whole.
Last edited by 2nd trick op; 04-12-2015 at 02:57 PM..
History is yesterday and everyday before. I agree that a knowledge of major past events, all the way back to the birth of our country, is essential when considering the worst era in American History. What is worrisome, for the most part, is the lack of detailed discussion of recent history. Refer to my first post on page 4 (I don't understand why recent posts are not on the first page). I ask a response to the questions asked.
Like him or not, I agree with Abraham Lincoln's words. I quote from memory. so it may not be exact, but the message is the same. "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, we will destroy ourselves".
The world, in recent decades, is much more interconnected than any other time in history. Rapid communication and social media gives Americans (and every other country) immediate access to events throughout the globe. The communication age we are currently in, and have been for the past few decades, is unprecedented in so many ways. It greatly changes the landscape of America. Science is becoming a "New God" to the younger generation, and to many of their Baby Boomer parents. Our brightest minds are imports. Always has been. The difference now is many of these new immigrants remain loyal to their home countries because Patriotism is no longer apparent and we antagonize them.
We are in the midst of huge uncertainty that past history simply cannot be compared to. A new history is here now. We are no longer viewed as "Yanks in a Tank", here to save the day. Our faults and weaknesses are fully exposed. Our adversarial Democracy between home political parties and emergence of Independents (Tea Party as one example) is a significant factor. We should expect a Revolution. Thomas Jefferson spoke of this. Hopefully, we will do so in a much more civilized way than in the past.
If our next President and Congress falter, we will face an era that may very well be the worst period in American History. Some of our highest offices are held by people that are viewed as a "joke". In different times nobody would know. We are truly transparent. Our enemies watch CSPAN, CNN, Fox, and major online media outlets. They watch and analyze more than most Americans do. Thank Goodness our Military is the best in he world. It is our strongest asset.
I have ranted enough. History will record this era as one of the most challenging. Again, answer the questions from my first post on page 4 of this thread.
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When is History
