US Top Ten..

10 Worst Moments in US History


10-

Trail of Tears
1838



The Trail of Tears was the relocation and movement of Native Americans, including many members of the Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw nations among others in the United States, from their homelands to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) in the Western United States. The phrase originated from a description of the removal of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. ManyNative Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations, and many died, including 4,000 of the 15,000 relocated Cherokee. By 1837, 46,000Native Americans from these southeastern nations had been removed from their homelands thereby opening 25 million acres for settlement by European Americans


the Dred Scott Decisio
1857



The Dred Scott Decision was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—were not protected by the Constitution and could never be citizens of the United States. It also held that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that because slaves were not citizens, they could not sue in court. Lastly, the Court ruled that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process.



8) The Battle of Antietam
1862



The battle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000 casualties. The Union had 12,401 casualties with 2,108 dead. Confederate casualties were 10,318 with 1,546 dead. This represented 25% of the Federal force and 31% of the Confederate. More Americans died on September 17, 1862, than on any other day in the nation’s military history. Several generals died as a result of the battle, including Maj. Gens. Joseph K. Mansfield , Israel B. Richardson and Brig. Gen. Isaac P. Rodman on the Union side (all mortally wounded), and Brig. Gens. Lawrence O. Branch, William E. Starke on the Confederate side (killed).




7) The Stock Market Crash
1929



A massive drop in value of the stock market helped trigger the Great Depression which lasted until the increased economic activity spurred by WW2 got us going back in the right direction. The Great Depression had devastating effects in virtually every country, rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, and international trade plunged by a half to two-thirds. Unemployment in the United States rose to 25% and in some countries rose as high as 33%. Cities all around the world were hit hard, especially those dependent on heavy industry. Construction was virtually halted in many countries. Farming and rural areas suffered as crop prices fell by approximately 60 percent.



6) Interment Camps
1942



The US government came to the conclusion that interning Japanese-American citizens was the best of a number of bad options. Roughly a hundred thousand Japanese-Americans ended up in camps. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 on February 19, uprooting Japanese Americans on the west coast to be sent to Internment camps. The order led to the internment of Japanese Americans or AJAs (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) in which some 120,000 ethnic Japanese people were held in internment camps for the duration of the war. Of the Japanese interned, 62% were Nisei (American-born, second-generation Japanese American and therefore American citizens) or Sansei (third-generation Japanese American, also American citizens) and the rest were Issei (Japanese immigrants and resident aliens, first-generation Japanese American).




5) Dropping of the Bomb
1945



A decision was taken to drop atomic bombs on Japanese civilians killing roughly 200,000 people in total to ‘shorten’ the war. ( It completely ignored the fact that war is between armies, not civilians). On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the nuclear bomb ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought total casualties to 90,000-140,000. Approximately 69% of the city’s buildings were completely destroyed, and about 7% severely damaged. On August 9, 1945, Nagasaki was the target of the world’s second atomic bomb attack (and second plutonium bomb; the first was tested in New Mexico, USA) at 11:02 a.m., when the north of the city was destroyed and an estimated 40,000 people were killed by the bomb nicknamed “Fat Man.” According to statistics found within Nagasaki Peace Park, the death toll from the atomic bombing totaled 73,884, as well as another 74,909 injured, and another several hundred thousand diseased and dying due to fallout and other illness caused by radiation.



[edit on 20-1-2010 by CanadianDream420]

4) Bay of Pigs
1961



Kennedy’s decision to go forward with the invasion and then deny them air support doomed the entire enterprise to failure. Today, 44 years later, Fidel Castro, a diehard enemy of the United States, is still in power. The plan was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the exile combatants in three days. Bad Cuban-American relations were made worse by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The invasion is often criticized as making Castro even more popular, adding nationalistic sentiments to the support for his economic policies. Following the initial attacks by 8 CIA-owned B-26s on Cuban airfields, he declared the revolution “Marxist-Leninist”. There are still yearly nationwide drills in Cuba during the ‘Dia de la Defensa’ (Defense Day) to prepare the population for an invasion.



3) Vietnam
1960s



The United States entered the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. Military advisors arrived, beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with U.S. troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, including 3 to 4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. The Case-Church Amendment, passed by the U.S. Congress in response to the anti-war movement, prohibited direct U.S. military involvement after August 15, 1973. U.S. military and economic aid continued until 1975. The capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese army in April 1975 marked the end of Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year.




2) 9/11
2001



Terrorist madmen attack the Twin Towers and Pentagon, kill nearly 3000 Americans, and set off a war on terrorism. (Some accounts suggest it was an inside job, or a horrific case of neglect). Afghanistan invaded to destroy the groups (Taliban & al Qaeda) America itself made, trained & armed to fight the Russian invasion. The campaign is still going on and has spilled into neighboring Pakistan, India & Iran, highlighting the inability of American forces to contain the war. The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. T he war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda’s movement than anticipated. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul

IRAK
2003



The ‘Invasion of Iraq’ on the basis of alleged reports saying Iraq possesses WMD’s. Nothing found but hundreds of thousands of lives shattered. Bush later admitted that “[my] biggest regret of the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. In 2005, the Central Intelligence Agency released a report saying that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was strongly opposed by some traditional U.S. allies, including France, Germany, New Zealand, and Canada. Their leaders argued that there was no evidence of WMD and that invading Iraq was not justified in the context of UNMOVIC’s February 12, 2003 report. On February 15, 2003, a month before the invasion, there were many worldwide protests against the Iraq war, including a rally of three million people in Rome, which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally. According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war, but the decision remained & Iraq was invaded.



[edit on 20-1-2010 by CanadianDream420]

10 Great Moments in US History


10) Barack Obama elected president
2008



It was a symbolic moment in the history of the United States when the last racial barrier in American politics was overcome. Just 143 years earlier, the man who would now hold the supreme office in U.S. government could have been a possession, another man’s property. President-elect Obama said, “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. “The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep… I promise you that we as a people will get there.”



9) Armstrong walks on the moon
1969



The moment seemed to generate memorable quotations. When Apollo 11, the first manned lunar mission, made contact with the surface of the moon, there was “The Eagle has landed.” When Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon, he said, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” But the quotations didn’t end there. Frank Borman later was quoted by U.N. Secretary General U Thant as saying, “We saw the earth the size of a quarter and we recognized that there really is one world. We are all brothers.” A favorite Armstrong quote is, “I believe the good Lord gave us a finite number of heartbeats and I’ll be damned if I’m going to use up mine running up and down a street.”


8) The Civil Rights Act
1964



The text of the bill was simple and straightforward: “No person in the United States shall on grounds of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” Overnight, it became illegal to force segregation in schools, workplaces, and housing. Racial discrimination wasn’t dead, but it was dying. The addition of “sex” as a protected category was added by a southern legislator in the hopes that Democrats relying heavily on support from labor unions would defeat the bill. Unexpectedly, the bill gave women’s rights advocates additional ammunition.


7) The Marshall Plan
1947



Considered by some to be the noblest undertaking in American history, and by others to be a waste of the $12,000,000,000 that was eventually spent on the plan, the European recovery program had three objectives. George Marshall, Secretary of State under President Harry Truman, designed the program to promote European production, bolster European currency, and facilitate trade after the devastating effects of World War II. The purpose was to help Europe recover as a healthy trading partner and ally, and to repel the Communist threat from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Marshall laid the groundwork for a revitalized Europe and the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.



6) Women’s suffrage
1920



The right of women to vote was achieved through decades of devoted work by determined men and women. In 1840, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott traveled to London as delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention. Because they were women, they were denied the right to speak. They determined to form an organization to fight for women’s equal rights. Over the years, supporters of women’s suffrage resorted to mass marches, hunger strikes, and denial of conjugal privileges to husbands who were opposed. In 1893, New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote at the federal level. Australia followed suit in 1902, but it was not until 1920, when President Woodrow Wilson advocated for the women’s right as a war measure, that the 19th Amendment granted American women the right to vote. Wilson’s decision followed daily picketing of the White House by hundreds of women. By the time the amendment was passed, 500 women had been arrested there for loitering, and another 168 for obstructing traffic.

5) The Emancipation Proclamation
1863



Lincoln believed that the purpose of the Civil War was to preserve the union. He wrote to Horace Greeley, “If I could save the union without freeing any slave, I would do it. If I could save the union by freeing all slaves, I would do it. If I could save the union by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” The Emancipation Proclamation did not free slaves in states loyal to the union or in states that had been reconquered. It only freed slaves in states “in rebellion that had not laid down arms by January 1, 1863.” Nor did it make slavery illegal. That change came with the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. It did accomplish important steps, however. Twenty thousand slaves were freed immediately, and many more rushed to join the union advance into the South. Moreover, the proclamation won approval in France and Great Britain, effectively ending the Confederate States’ hope for recognition by those countries. Ultimately, more than 4,000,000 slaves were freed.



4) Lewis and Clark arrive at the Pacific
1805



They were not the first settlers of Northern European origin. The natives there were quite accustomed to trading with white men, and Station Camp, near where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific Ocean, had 36 houses. Moreover, the Northwest Passage they had sought did not exist. Hoping that the Missouri River would gently lead to the sea had been in vain. The Missouri and the Columbia both had huge rapids and cataracts making river travel difficult and in some places impossible. But their journey had not been without value. Arriving at the Pacific coast exactly one year, six months, and one day after leaving St. Louis, Lewis and Clark had collected plant specimens, studied new animal species, and acquired priceless information about the geography and inhabitants of what would be the western United States.



3) Louisiana Purchase
1803



President Thomas Jefferson faced a dilemma. Napoleon Bonaparte’s aggression made it likely that New Orleans, which was paramount in international trade, and the Mississippi River, which was vital for national and international commerce, could be closed to U.S. trade. He had learned in 1801 that Spain had retroceded its territory to France in a secret compact. But the Constitution had no provision for acquiring territory. Ultimately, Jefferson took matters into his own hands and dispatched envoys to see if Napoleon would sell. The emperor, facing a war with Great Britain, realized that he was unlikely to be able to defend the territory. He decided to sell for a total cost, including forgiven debts, of $15,000,000. The purchase doubled the country, including the territory of fourteen states. Napoleon was satisfied, as well. He said, “I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride.”



2) Ratification of the Constitution
1789



The Federal Convention which had drafted the Constitution had no authority to impose it. An elaborate four-step plan for ratification was adopted. 1. The Constitution was submitted to Congress. 2. Congress transmitted the Constitution to the state legislatures. 3. Each state elected delegates to attend a convention and decide whether to ratify. 4. Ratification by at least nine of the thirteen colonies was required. This plan avoided the hostility of states’ rights advocates and made the Constitution less vulnerable to changes of opinion. In September of 1787, the Congress bitterly debated the Constitution and ultimately submitted it to the states with neither an endorsement nor a condemnation. The Constitution was validly before the people. The first five ratifications came quickly, but Massachusetts demanded a means of amending the document as a condition of ratification. This demand ultimately led to the passage of the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. Final acceptance of the document by the states took place in July, 1788.


1) Declaration of Independence
1776



Arriving at consensus was no small feat. At the beginning of the month, only eight of the thirteen colonies were in favor of independence, with New York abstaining from the vote pending a local decision. The American Prohibitory Act had made all vessels and cargoes from the colonies forfeit to the Crown, and in May King George had issued an order hiring German mercenaries to fight the colonies, which he now considered to be in total rebellion. Still, many believed the rift could be patched up. Jefferson was dispatched by a committee to write up a declaration explaining the views of those who favored independence. He completed the document in two weeks, starting on June 11, 1776. Then Benjamin Franklin and John Adams made additions and deletions, and at last it was presented to the full congress, where redaction went on until late at night on July 3. Finally, on July 4, 1776, all thirteen colonies signed “…the fragile object which bears so great a weight of meaning to our people.”

You should provide a link to the source for this article.

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Originally posted by DarkStormCrow
You should provide a link to the source for this article.

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Here is the link to the source:
listverse.com...

Ummm..... didn't #3 on the "good" list cause #10 on the "bad" list, at least indirectly? I mean, we bought a huge chunk of land from some European country, that is true, but there were already millions of people living there. Sort of reminds me of that whole Gaza thing, you know. Also, where the hell is Dec. 23, 1913 or Dec. 7, 1941 or Nov. 22, 1963? Maybe, there are just so many terrible occurances that a top 10 just won't do.

Leave it to a Canadian to see through all the crap and give an honest and fair assessment of American history. I found all your picks to be good. I might have included the battle of yorktown on the good side but I'm not sure what I would have taken out to make the even ten. GJ!