History Of United States
The History of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, yet its territory was occupied first by the Native Americanssince prehistoric times and then also by European colonists mostly following the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The Thirteen Colonies declared independence from the British Empire in 1776 during the American Revolution and as states ratified the Articles of Confederation. In 1789 the Constitution became the basis for the United States federal government. The young nation continued to struggle with the scope of central government and with European influence, creating the first political parties in the 1790s, and fighting a second war for independence in 1812.
U.S. territory expanded westward across the continent, brushing aside Native Americans and Mexico, and overcoming modernizers who wanted to deepen the economy rather than expand the geography. Slavery of Africans was abolished in the North, but heavy world demand for cotton let it flourish in the Southern states. The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln calling for no more expansion of slavery triggered a crisis as eleven slave states seceded to found the Confederate States of Americain 1861. The bloody four-year American Civil War (1861-65) redefined the nation and remains the central iconic event. The South was defeated and, in the Reconstruction era, the U.S. ended slavery, extended rights to African Americans, and readmitted secessionist states with loyal governments. The present 48 contiguous states were admitted by early 1912.
The U.S. rose as an industrialized power by the early 20th century. Changes in lifestyle led to the Progressive movement, which pushed for reform in industry and politics and is associated with women's suffrage and Prohibition (the latter failed by 1933). Initially committed to neutrality, the U.S. eventually entered World War I in 1917, and despite U.S. attempts to foster the League of Nations, popular support remained isolationist. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 punctuated the onset of theGreat Depression, to which the federal government responded with New Deal recovery programs. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 pulled the nation into World War II alongside the Allies, and helped defeat Nazi Germany in Europe and, with the detonation of newly-invented atomic bombs, Japan in Asia and the Pacific.
The Soviet Union and the U.S. emerged as opposing superpowers after the war and began the Cold War confronting on other fronts including an arms race, the Space Race, and intervention in Europe and eastern Asia. Liberalism reflected in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War peaked in the 1960s–70s before giving way to conservatism in the early 1980s. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, leaving the U.S. to prosper in the booming Information Ageeconomy that was boosted, at least in part, by information technology. International conflict and economic uncertainty heightened by 2001 with the September 11 attacks and subsequent War on Terror and the late-2000s recession.
U.S. territory expanded westward across the continent, brushing aside Native Americans and Mexico, and overcoming modernizers who wanted to deepen the economy rather than expand the geography. Slavery of Africans was abolished in the North, but heavy world demand for cotton let it flourish in the Southern states. The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln calling for no more expansion of slavery triggered a crisis as eleven slave states seceded to found the Confederate States of Americain 1861. The bloody four-year American Civil War (1861-65) redefined the nation and remains the central iconic event. The South was defeated and, in the Reconstruction era, the U.S. ended slavery, extended rights to African Americans, and readmitted secessionist states with loyal governments. The present 48 contiguous states were admitted by early 1912.
The U.S. rose as an industrialized power by the early 20th century. Changes in lifestyle led to the Progressive movement, which pushed for reform in industry and politics and is associated with women's suffrage and Prohibition (the latter failed by 1933). Initially committed to neutrality, the U.S. eventually entered World War I in 1917, and despite U.S. attempts to foster the League of Nations, popular support remained isolationist. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 punctuated the onset of theGreat Depression, to which the federal government responded with New Deal recovery programs. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 pulled the nation into World War II alongside the Allies, and helped defeat Nazi Germany in Europe and, with the detonation of newly-invented atomic bombs, Japan in Asia and the Pacific.
The Soviet Union and the U.S. emerged as opposing superpowers after the war and began the Cold War confronting on other fronts including an arms race, the Space Race, and intervention in Europe and eastern Asia. Liberalism reflected in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War peaked in the 1960s–70s before giving way to conservatism in the early 1980s. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, leaving the U.S. to prosper in the booming Information Ageeconomy that was boosted, at least in part, by information technology. International conflict and economic uncertainty heightened by 2001 with the September 11 attacks and subsequent War on Terror and the late-2000s recession.