The worst event thread got me to thinking (in spite of warnings from The Rib)...

What was the most important event/date for US history?

My entry is the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Yes, you read that right. If the Spanish had won, they would have colonized all of the New World. Since the English came out on top, they were able to colonize N. America. A Spanish colonization would have created a political climate like much of Central and South America.

Emancipation Proclamation.

It's when we finally took the Declaration of Independence seriously.

Hasn't happened yet

Your entry is invalid since U.S. history began in 1776.

The "Love Wins" Supreme Court decision

I think it was when the black obelisk appeared which helped one tribe of apes kill the other tribe using primitive weapons.

D-day

Would have changed nothing other than the Alamo being in massachusetts and Santa Ana surrendering in ohio.

Is this dress blue and black or, white and gold.




- most of the electorate

Win At Life said:

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D-day

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If we had to pick a day, this would be it.

The First Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening
The Pentecostal movement circa 1900 in Kansas
The Azusa Street Revival
The Charismatic movement of the 1960s-70s encompassing both Protestants and Catholics

Why? Because what happens in the spiritual realm is a parallel of what happens in the physical realm.

The election of Woodrow Wilson as president.

The triple trifecta of the FED, the IRS, and the direct election of US senators (Constitutional amendments around 1913, pre WW1). Throw in the impetus towards prohibition, too.

1. The FED was the creation of the Third Bank of the United States. Moving the USA towards fiat money supply.

2. The IRS shifted the funding of the federal government away from states collecting/paying tariffs (Simplifying the protocol) towards individual taxation with withholding payroll taxes beginning in WWII. Lobbying to rig the byzantine IRS tax code became a giant cancer upon our country.

3. The Constitution originally had US Representatives elected by the people every 2 years so that the House would reflect 'current' public opinion AND the States to elect thru their legislatures Senators to represent the State's interest in DC. Two very different missions/tasks. Direct election of Senators broke that concept and, along with the change in funding via the IRS, made appropriating/obligating funding towards Federal programs/projects riper fruit for lobbyists.

Prohibition helped out #2 get established. No legal sale of alcohol? No tariff money collected, which during the pre IRS years was a substantial percentage of Federal income. Why were early ATF agents called 'Revenuers'?

There were other more visual important events during the history of the USA but these 3 changed America insidiously in ways that affect each of us to this day. We likely cannot put the genie back in the bottle but perhaps an Article 5(?) Convention of the States can fix all this. Our current path is unsustainable. We will see.

The events in the Shenandoah Valley that allowed Lincoln to be the first POTUS re-elected since 1832.

Tough to break down a singular decision, but I err on the side of thinking O'Rorke/Chamberlain/Warren in any case were in fact the key to the battle's outcome, which was decisive to America's subsequent history, for better or worse...

The Trinity test

Aggie Infantry said:

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The worst event thread got me to thinking (in spite of warnings from The Rib)...

What was the most important event/date for US history?

My entry is the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Yes, you read that right. If the Spanish had won, they would have colonized all of the New World. Since the English came out on top, they were able to colonize N. America. A Spanish colonization would have created a political climate like much of Central and South America.

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The Spanish couldn't even defeat the Comanche

Win At Life said:

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D-day

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Agreed.

It literally signaled to the rest of the world that the United States was "the" super power and that in just a mere 2.5 years we could re-tool our economy to war at a level that we could and would defeat Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. We were no longer a fledgling nation of rebels with the jury still out.

Man we have really fallen quickly since then.

The American Revolution …

The writing of the Declaration of Independence.

I'd say the entirety of the American Revolution and World War II.

Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump...

I agree that the revolution and declaration were certainly at the top of the list watershed moments/eras.

But D-Day was literally America's pinnacle. The poor sons of the immigrants that left the old world in search of better in the new came back to the old to settle their differences for them in a statement beyond. Epic in world history, not just American.

We left on wood ships with what we would could carry. We came back in Higgins boats back up by battleships with B17's overhead. Impressive.

Jan 6th.

(I kid.)

Adoption of the Constitution.

We're currently in the process of FAFO.

Aggie Infantry said:

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The worst event thread got me to thinking (in spite of warnings from The Rib)...

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People who say "The Rib"

When George Washington stepped down as POTUS; that showed that this country was not going to be a monarchy or military dictatorship. He could have easily kept power for the rest of his life he wanted to.

Landing on the moon.


Followed by Mr. Gorbachev tear down your wall.

I've often wondered why people say this.

So a bunch of rebel colonists risk literally everything to back down the King of England and the world's largest standing army and navy only to bend the knee to the new dictator?

Nah, they would have shot Washington too.

Urban Ag said:

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I've often wondered why people say this.

So a bunch of rebel colonists risk literally everything to back down the King of England and the world's largest standing army and navy only to bend the knee to the new dictator?

Nah, they would have shot Washington too.

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He was the most popular person in the country. He had the full support of all the military, troops, and most of the people in govt esp since he hired them all.

December 12,1939

As long as we're throwing stuff around...

The answer to all of these types of questions is always the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

justcallmeharry said:

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Hillary Clinton losing to Donald Trump...

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lol