United States History

This question in your History contest is very vague. You should give some more context and throw in what you think yourself while you are at it.

My guess would be that they aim at the period roughly between WWII and the Johnson years.

The time when George Washington gave up the power.

someone has an essay to write...

no, no essay to write, just curious.

okay, it was suggested that i make my contest more clear....here's a go at it:

if you could pick one period in united states history most important to the country's advancement....beginning with it's first settlements to present day.....what would it be and why?

for me, i believe it was the westward expansion....without that i have to wonder if we would have become the power country that we are.
(this opinion could change depending on why you believe another period is more important).

looking forward to reading your responses!!

I agree with westward expansion somewhat since that's where all of the gold came from that helped make us the richest country in the world. What if Mexico had of found the gold and silver before us? would England Spain and other countries have come to their aid and made it a new game? But as fas as one single time period being the MOST important I don't think that it can be proven beyond personal opinion.

It depends on what you mean by "advancement." For Americans, "the Great Depression" means the 1930's--but in European history, "the Great Depression was 1875-1893. Capitalists in Europe looking for investment opportunities invested in Canada and the United States. At the same time, the great plains of Canada and the United States were being exploited as never before for large-scale grain growing, an extremely valuable export commodity. Both the capitalists of North America and of Europe invested heavily in railroads, as well as in many other areas. The U.S. transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, the Canadian in 1885. All sorts of feeder lines and trunk lines were built, and goods and capital flowed in North America as had never before been the case. The 1870's mark the period when the United States became a world power in the solid sense of economic might, and it had more to do with large-scale international trade, investment, industrial diversification and innovation than it did with simply the expansion of population to the west in Canada and the United States. That's only a part of a larger picture, and had been given undue prominence because of the romantic notions of authors and Hollywood. When the United States and Canada built the world's first major electrical generating stations on the banks of the Niagara River in the 1890's, not only did existing industry boom as never before, but entirely new industries--such as the large-scale, relatively cheap production of aluminum, and the production of carborundum, later along with a host of chemical products made possible by cheap and plentiful electrical power--simply heightened the effect.

Historical "periods" only exist in our minds, they're mental three-by-five cards we use to build an outline with which to view history in an orderly fashion which has to do with our need for order and nothing to do with the riotous tumult of human events. The growth of industry and investment in North America in the late 19th century and early 20th century is the big story of the era, even if Zane Grey novels and Tom Mix were more exciting for people.