How Did The United States Become The Most Powerful Nation On Earth?

Was it due to a whole lotta wasp money/decisions, legal or not? When did the US make itself the cornerstone of the Western world? America was originally founded for the elite.

• We bankrupted each other fighting wars and they stayed out and made money. Just like the US and China today.

  Europe

• Plastics.

• Friends to the North and South. No one on the East and West...

• Nobody else wanted to be

• Are you an American, OP?

• It was decided at the end of the 1st WW to shift the balance of Anglo Saxon power to the U.S. because Europe was considered unstable.

• Don't tell me, R16. "They" decided it, didn't they? They are always up to something.

• R16?

• Yes?

  R16

• It used to be the brightest now its the lowest common denominator. This country has been dumbed down!

• I Truly believe that the USA was created by aliens..i dont think that they would be the country they are today without alien input at the beginning. IE the richest and most powerful in such a short space of time.

  me.

• There are scholars who have studied the American Revolution and the 1783 Treaty of Paris (which ended the war. )) and concluded that America Is Still A British Colony. The terms of Treaty named King George III and his descendants as "Princes of America" and the rightful rulers of the North American Colonies. Also the American Colonies agreed top pay war reparations to the King , which is odd for a nation to do if it won the war . When the colonies fell behind in the payments the King began to seize American ships and goods leading to the War ofg 1812, which the colonies also technically lost ( according to legal scholars who have read the Treaty of Ghent in 1814) That kind of explains the "special relation" the the UK and the USA enjoys. I posted a short link , but there are several other much much longer documentaries which go into greater detail and reach the same conclusion. Has anyone else ever heard this?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DD47-8b8BrkA

• [quote]America was originally founded for the elite. Really? In what way? Georgia was a penal colony and many of the other early settlers of the original 13 colonies were seeking religious freedom or fleeing some type of persecution. Not all, but many. So, how "elite" was that? A short answer to the OP's question is that we were fairly isolated on the North American continent throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century. So, we were pretty much left alone, as R1 noted. From about 1850 onward, we took the Industrial Revolution to heart and used the abundant land, natural resources, and a ready supply of cheap labor to build and manufacture almost everything that we needed to sustain day-to-day American life. We also exported a lot of goods around the world. We built things and we made money. Invention and innovation were encouraged. Along the way we seem to have lost the drive that got us to where we are -- or rather were.

• Because we didn't fight world war two on our soil.

• "America was originally founded for the elite." Dude, you should seriously need to learn how to read a history book and cut back on some of your glory hole time.

• Give me your gold!

  FDR

• LOL r9

• "America was originally founded for the elite." Posted by colored person.

• To the north a weak neighbor, to the south a weak neighbor, to the east fish, to the west fish. Empty continent, vast natural resources, open immigration policies, mostly stable legal/political system. Europe imploded during the World Wars. Native Americans were living in the Neolithic age and were relatively easy to kill off.

  My AP History Teacher

• Our smash and grab foreign policy,of course - give us your stuff or we'll kill you. That's how we became "great".

• r19 has it about right, except add to that the deal we made with the British for their naval bases during WWII. That gave us control of the oceans.

• OP probably has a test paper posted on this site:

  http://slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/curiosities/2010/stupid_answers.htm

• The US Constitution was written for and by rich white men. How stupid are (some) of you people???! Minorities were property, children were cheap labor, and property rights are specified throughout the document. Have you even read the damn thing??! r13 = Pollyanna

• Read "Postwar". The US rose to power in the ashes of WWII. The manufacturing base of Europe was completely destroyed, so all of the western European countries bought everything from the US (using money the americans leant them in the Marshall Plan).

• We skimmed off the most resourceful people from around the world, why wouldn't the U.S. be successful? I don't see anyone threatening our hegemony for some time. China? A house of cards that will fall as soon as their growing middle class realizes they are governed by a dictatorship.

• [quote]A house of cards that will fall as soon as their growing middle class realizes they are governed by a dictatorship. By that standard the USA should implode any day now. Perhaps that explains why the American Middle Class is rapidly disappearing.

• By working harder than any other nation and by being more open to new things.

• The Middle Class in America = Working Class, who like to fancy themselves Middle Class. This is also the same country that says that America doesn't have a class system.

• The OP is definitely a product of a failed education system. What a moron. I would also assume that he's a democrat that supports Obama.

• OP, it' called history, specifically American history. Start reading- you can do it 24/7 for about 50 years and keep on doing it for as long as you want. But do, do a little reading.

  charlie

• We never were. OP is smoking something. In 1945 if we'd gone to war with the USSR, the USSR would have won. By 1990 when they collapsed Japan had passed us economically...

• It pretty much started around WW2. America was still a great power before then, but when Japan attacked America, production for weapons, soldiers/navy and air force shot up sky high thus giving it the largest army/navy etc during the war. I was reading about it on websites and books. So many believe that if there was no war and America wasn't attacked, it's highly possible America wouldn't be a major super power it is today. America got lucky due to its gold/oil and other benefits it has. I'm no American, but i'm glad its a great powerful nation it is today and yes, i do love the United States. God Bless America :)

• We're living on borrowed time. We have borrowed our way to the on top.

• The U.S. only became the most powerful nation on earth when the Soviet Union collapsed. Anyone who says differently is mentally challenged.

• We didn't even start borrowing until 30 years ago.

• The blacks and the jews. They produced most of the cultural product that has proven so irresistible to the rest of the world over the past century. Hollywood, TV, blues, jazz, rock n roll, hip hop.

• Germany destroyed Europe and the USA filled the void. By the time Europe came back, it was too late.

• Democracy with a lot of people free from "Royal families" or dictators. Natural resources, Vast fertile soil....

• It's my understanding that R3 has it. It's almost impossible for any nation to invade us because we have ocean borders on two sides. Russia would have to come over via Alaska. China, India, others have no real way to come over.

• It all depends on what you define as "most powerful" first of all. Most historians date the United States' preeminently influential place in the world from the end of World War II when it came down to the "showdown" between the US and the USSR (and the last gasps of European imperialism, especially with their empires in Asia and Africa being given independence due in no small measure to Japanese inspiration) and we all know how that ended. But prior to this "status" many nations in Europe ended up owing vast amounts of debt to the US as a result of World War I. Theodore Roosevelt essentially laid much of the foundation in expanding American influence in the Pacific and Caribbean with naval presence, that, at least, is part of the military nutshell explanation of "powerful". The economic and monetary preeminence was at least partly the result of the two World Wars and American financial advantages therefrom. I never thought I would say it when I was younger, but in this day and age I want the United States to remain on top, fuck India and China. We should not have to depend on technical support from India nor any kind of everyday articles from bicycles to toasters made cheaply and shoddily in China.

  anon

• I don't buy your idea r12 and even if it was true, Andrew Jackson would not have allowed it anyway and would have told the Brits to go fuck themselves. Franklin Roosevelt was another president who stated that when a conference was held in Europe dealing with currency valuation in which the dollar was included he plainly stated that the United States was not going to be pushed around. This took place in the 1930s during the depression. If anything today, Britain is a vassal economically and monetarily of the US, not the other way around.

  anon

• Because the US is totally isolated from the rest of the world and it can never be invaded like any other nations in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. Aside from the Civil war and the war of 1812 the US's grew virtually without any direct threat and was able to amass its limitless resources in building the biggest army in the world.

• Getting Hawaii was a big part.

• Ancient Chinese secret

  It will be

• Aside from reading some history, didn't anyone watch that recent series on our "titans," Rockefeller, Carnegie, etc? It made a very convincing case that we were pretty much unstoppable by the turn of the 20th century.