10 Major Events That Changed History
These historical events gave me an interest in U.S. history
Hopefully, at some point in a person’s education, they will have the opportunity to discuss the following topic: What were the most important historical moments and why?
Human history is littered with watershed moments and inventions that enabled changes, events that sparked movements, and movements that altered the course of history.
History is full of these moments, too numerous to count and impossible to compare. Nonetheless, I attempted to compile this list of the ten most significant moments in human history.
But first, we need to define our terms. What exactly do we mean by “most significant moments”?
There is no way to quantify the relative importance of any event, but I preferred those that had a larger impact over a longer period of time.
For this list, I attempted to select historical events that had a larger impact, positive or negative, on a larger number of people, as well as the ramifications those events may have on future generations.
#1: Declaration of Independence (1776)
The Declaration of Independence (1776) is unmistakably linked to the events of the 1770s.
The American Revolution’s pursuit of liberty was made meaningful by the founding document of the great American experiment in democracy, from the Boston Tea Party to the shot heard round the world, Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware, and the Valley Forge winter.
#2: Constitution of the United States of America (1787)
With the war won, independence gained, and the Articles of Confederation proving insufficient, the Founding Fathers established the law by which the new country would be governed in the elegantly crafted Constitution.
#3: Dred Scott Decision (1857)
The 1850s were rife with forerunners of the American Civil War, from the Compromise of 1850, which temporarily dampened North-South tensions, to John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Raid, which heightened them.
However, by inciting abolitionist outrage in an increasingly polarized country, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision arguably laid the groundwork for Abraham Lincoln’s election as president in 1860, which ultimately resulted in secession and war.
#4: Plessy v Ferguson (1896)
After Reconstruction ended in the 1870’s, the passage of Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in the South.
The United States Supreme Court gave constitutional sanction to laws designed to achieve racial segregation through separate and supposedly equal public facilities and services for African Americans and whites in its 7 to 1 decision in the Plessy v Ferguson case in May 1896, providing a controlling judicial precedent that would last until the 1950s.
#5: Stock Market Crash (1929)
“The chief business of the American people is business,” said US President Calvin Coolidge in 1925.
And, with the American economy humming during the “Roaring Twenties”, the country enjoyed peace and prosperity, until it didn’t.
The era ended in October 1929, when the stock market crashed, kicking off years of economic deprivation and calamity known as the Great Depression.
#6: Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)
The civil rights movement, opposition to the Vietnam War, the emergence of youth oriented counterculture, and the establishment and reactionary elements that resisted change were at the heart of the 1960s’ widespread social and political upheaval.
The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent civil rights leader, on April 4, 1968, revealed the tragic, violent consequences of a country’s political polarization.
#7: Watergate Scandal (1972–74)
On August 9, 1974, facing possible impeachment for his role in covering up the scandal surrounding the June 1972 break in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., Republican Richard Nixon resigned as the only President of the United States.
The scandal’s loss of faith in government officials instilled paranoia and disillusionment in both popular and political culture for the rest of the decade.
#8: September 11 Attacks (2001)
Although terrorist attacks on the United States had occurred at the end of the twentieth century, a new sense of vulnerability entered American life on September 11, 2001, when Islamist terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania countryside, killing nearly 3 thousand people.
#9: Election of Donald Trump (2016)
Since at least the 1980’s, the United States has been divided politically by so called culture wars, which have symbolically divided the country into Republican dominated red states and Democrat dominated blue states.
The 2016 election of Republican Donald Trump, whose campaign was based on nationalism and anti immigrant rhetoric, could be interpreted as a reaction to the apparent triumph of “blue” values during Democrat Barack Obama’s two term presidency.
#10: Overturning of Roe v Wade (2022)
The supreme court overturned Roe v Wade on June 25th 2022. This decision has handed abortion rights back to the states to vote on. Needless to say a lot of people are unhappy and protests are happening all over.
There you have our 10 major events that changed history. Tell us what you think.
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