The USA would be nothing without the Declaration of Independence and Treaty of Paris, where the independence was recognized (and the territory expanded to the Missisippi). The Federal Constitution and its Bill of Rights were also enacted during the 18th century.

I was just wondering what might have been the single most important thing for the development of the 20th and 21st century USA in the 19th century? Might it have been the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo in 1848, where Texas was enlarged to the Rio Grande and New Mexico and California was annexed, the War Between the States and the expansion of federal power which it brought, or something else entirely?

I won't say anything myself, at least not now. Americans should know more about US history than I do. Then again, given th amount of answers to my question "What If the USA Had Not Annexed Texas?", I won't expect much.

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[U]President Josiah Bartlet:[/U] Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
[U]Leo McGarry:[/U] Maybe they don't and they can't add.

If you are talking the 19th century as you specified then it could not be the Declaration of Independance or Constitution. The writing and ratification of these two documents are arguably the most important things in US history however they both occured in the 18th century. In the 19th century the event with the most impact on the US is without question the civil war. That one event is what kept the US together and allowed it to be what it is today. Had the south won the war the world would be a very different place, not just America but the world.

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu

Yep, have to agree. The Civil War made all the difference in the creation of the United States in its present form. If not for a victory of the North, it's hard to fathom what the United States would be like. Maybe something like France and Germany after WWII. Two countries of a like-minded agenda living side by side. Not nearly as powerful and influential as we are today though.


WEB

Nothing even close to the Civil War.
Sorry DGG - doubt you will get much meaningful discussion hear..the Civil War is without a doubt the most important event.

Perhaps you should start a thread...most important in the last 50 years.

Agreed. The civil war was about politics of the northern shipping industry in competition with growing southern industries.
When the railroads opened up the market, the north legislated one restriction after another until the south was forced to officially and legally succeed from the union.
That’s when the north came down and killed everybody. They still wanted the real estate.

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[FONT="Impact"][SIZE="3"][B]Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to decimation... [/B][/SIZE][/FONT]

Cool!
There still are resentiments of southerners against the northeners. Its interesting how long living they are. Well but when looking at Europe it should not suprise me...

This is exactly why I dismissed those in the beginning of my first post as being products of the 18th century.

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[U]President Josiah Bartlet:[/U] Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
[U]Leo McGarry:[/U] Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Actually it’s resentment to history revision.

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[FONT="Impact"][SIZE="3"][B]Every kingdom divided against itself, is brought to decimation... [/B][/SIZE][/FONT]

In the 1860's, the USA had already gained so much territory it pretty much owned all of its current territory on the American continent (except for the scarcely populated Alaska).

Personally, I believe the Louisiana Purchase to be of the greatest importance. Without it, the USA could never have had a Western frontier, would never have reached the Pacific and become an important power in that ocean. The growing conflict between Free States and Slave States would have evolved very differently if it would not have been for the frontier, the annexation of new territories and political disagreement on extending slavery to new territories or not. Even if the Union woudl have won the War Between the States, the USA would not have been a Super Power if the Mississippi would have been its western border.

Would Louisiana have become American anyway? We don't know, but history would have been very different anyway.

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[U]President Josiah Bartlet:[/U] Sweden has a 100% literacy rate. 100%! How do they do that?
[U]Leo McGarry:[/U] Maybe they don't and they can't add.

Actually eventually the US would have in fact gotten the entire continent regardless of the Louisianna Purchase or not. You have to remember that was a time when Americans felt they had a manifest desitny to reach and control the land between the Atlantic and Pacific. It would have been far bloodier had it not been for the purchase, but it would have happened anyway. As you pointed out the purchase had already happened by the time of the Civil War. Had it turned out differently and the south won there would have been two part of the purchase, one belonging to the south and one belonging to the north.

No the Civil War was the only think that could have prevented the US of today from existing. The French and Spanish were already waning, not to mention that their US possessions were thousands of miles away from the mother country. Mexico could have not withstood a US effort to gain control of the land in the southwest even before the Civil War. That was war the defining moment of the 1800's for the US in some cases for good and in some for bad, but in the end it was the one event of that time period that made us who we are.

I would think that such divergent voices on just about everything basically agreeing on this would have given you a clue that we are right. After all it is our history is it not?

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The universe grows smaller every day and the threat of aggression by any group anywhere can no longer be tolerated. There must be security for all or no one is secure... - Klaatu