Your favorite period of American history.

S

Sport

New member
For me, it's that period between 1790 and
1840.

It was the era of the "mountain man".

It was after Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton,
et al ,had "tamed" the wild frontier east
of the Mississippi.

The real frontiersmen were those who put it
all on the line for fur.

They set out into the unknown to make their
fortune with no guarantees.
They had what they carried from St. Louis.

They were totaly self-sustaining and knew
if they were not up to the challenge, they
would not survive.
 
1840-1950

The period that made America realize its potential...regular folk picked up stakes and carved out new lives, settling this gorgeous continent....innovative, resourceful, inventive....jump started science, education, industry....while fighting world wars and winning.

I liken Sport's period to the 60's up til now....but in Sport's period they followed through....if we were made of the same stuff, the moon and Mars would be settled by now and making money. Alas, Socialism was created during my period and it unfortunately appeals to the weakest in human psyche...and we finally could afford it due to others' labors.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
1945: Yea, I know it was a war year, but hear me out.

1) Rifles were made of wood and steel.

2) .45 ACP service pistol.

3) Everybody smoked, every where.

4) They painted pictures of pretty girls on airplanes.

5) Medals ment something.

6) Victory was declared when the enemy was dead and all his things were broken.

7) After the war, you could buy your own rifle from the government, cheap. Now a serviceman can't be trusted with his rifle and will be jailed if he gets his hands on one.

8) The country was commited to winning and knew what it was fighting for.

9) A stranger would stop and pick-up a G.I. trying to get home for the weekend.

10) And last but not least, servicemen and women from that era have THE best stories to tell at the VFW ;)

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Tom Whitman
SSgt, USAF

[This message has been edited by AF Shooter (edited April 10, 2000).]
 
I like the period leading up to the war of Northern Agression. It was a time when elected officials (both sides) passionately defended their constituents even to the point of challenging their opponents to a duel. It was a defining moment in American History that was when the Southern States drew a line in the sand over the rights guaranteed states by the constitution (by the way- it wasn't about slavery). If the war was indeed about slavery (which didn't become an issue until 2 years into the war), then the Federal Government could have more cheaply bought all the slaves using their powers of eminent domain, and spared half a million men their lives. The South was defending the 10th and 4th amendments and they were willing to die for it. The North was defending the Union, and their right to force the south to trade with them exclusively. They were willing to die for this too. Unfortunately, after the war, the whole nation deteriorated. The Federal Government proved it could do as it pleased with a 51% vote, and the South passed all sorts of Jim Crow laws (the nations first restrictions on firearms being one of them). The South has recovered, but the Nation isn't as free as it was prior to the war.
 
1940-1960. Great airplanes & ships & terrible war (as if any war is good) leading to Pax Americana. It'll never be the same.

Second favorite 1755-1796. French Indian War, Revolution and the Constitution. Formulative years for a new nation.
 
The historical present. We're here during this time and age for a reason. May we press on and do what honorable men and women of years gone by were called to do. Honor the past, live in the present, hope and build for the future.

Chris..
 
I second "Right Now".

Sometimes I think fondly of all those past times...then I remember what *my* ancestors were doing back then (picking cotton).
 
The 70's seemed pretty cool and free to me.

Mort, what's the last generation of your family that picked cotton (I assume that you're black and had slave ancestors that did the same)? I know that my grand folks did as youngsters. I think people that are now in there early 40s were probably the last of the cotton pickers.
 
My favorite historical time (in American History) is 1890-1934. It was the time of American expansionism, great firearms development (especially the machine gun), newfangled devices such as cars, planes, radio and television, the last great age of print journalism, prohibition (which should serve as a lesson), gangsters, opulent displays of wealth that we may never see again, and many interesting little wars that tested America's resolve as a world power.

For instance, my paternal grandfather served in the Mexican Expedition of 1916. What an odd little war! Of course, we could be going there again given the recent events along the border in the southwest. Were my grandfather alive now (he would be 108) I am sure he would have nothing nice to say about what awaits us south of the border.

I pick 1934 as the year this period ended due to the enactment of the onerous (and unconstitutional) National Firearms Act. Also, by this time, the FDR era is in full swing, signaling the final bell for the first American Republic.

I will agree with others though and say that now may be well remembered as a great time for the effort to reclaim our legacy as citizens who refuse to be subjects.

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Thomas Hobbes: "The reason I help the man is that by doing so I end my discomfort at seeing his discomfort."
 
Right now. The living time. May the spirits of the great warriors of the past guide me on the path of least regret - listen to the lessons past warriors have learned and written down, apply it to NOW. The constants are...constant.
 
I am a young pup, but I would have to say the 80's. America had hope, we had good strong leadership and saw the fall of communism in its homeland around this time. I long for the National Pride and hope that we the nation had at that time. We were making great progresses in technology. And attempting to reform the anemic socialist agenda that had crippled our nation. Was George Bush so bad a president that we deserved Klintoon?

DaHaMac


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Know Yourself, Know Your Weapon, Know Your Enemy; then Know Victory!
 
I like the time period Trevor picked 1890 - 1934. For much of the same reasons.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
I like all periods of history, but am glad I am here in the present and not in some hollowed grave.
If I could go back in time and return, though, I would go back to the 1850's and have Sam Hawkins of St. Louis make up one of his fine plains rifles just for me.
 
You got a point Herodotus. I'd hate to get scalped (Ow!) and that thing about torture (Owwwwwww!) to prove your manhood, give me cyanide anyday.
 
I'm with ChrisL. With the exception of a few setbacks since 1776, Americans have never had it so good. It is truly the Age of Reason; in every area except politics and public education.

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"I don't believe in individualism, Peter. I don't believe that any one man is any one thing which everybody else can't be. I believe that we are all equal and interchangeable."--Ellsworth Toohey
 
A different twist...

The worst year for the Republic? 1913. Constitutional amendments to permit the direct election of Senators, and to authorize the income tax (grrrrrr), and the passage of the Federal Reserve Act. I think this odious year has more to do with what we are as a nation today than any other this century.
 
Unquestionably the Civil War. However, it's my favorite only from the perspective of keen historical interest. I frankly would not have wanted to live during that time. There are less unpleasant ways of dying than to be blown to pieces at Malvern Hill, burned alive in the Wilderness, mashed into the ground at the Bloody Angle, drowned in the "Hunley," etc. OTOH, it must have been quite an experience to see and cheer Stonewall and Marse Robert.
 
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