Most Boring Part of U.S. History

[Alabama_Indy10]

What era do you believe was the most boring point in U.S. history?

[Blue3]

1865-1932.

or 1816-1859

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Gilded Age of the 1880's. Reconstruction was over but the worst of the Jim Crow Era was in the next decade. The West was won. We weren't engaging in overseas interventions. Politics was boring for the most part. Obviously it wasn't completely boring, it never is, but it easily was the most boring era for the United States of America to date.

[Crumpets]

I once had to do a small presentation on the Panic of 1837 in high school, and it was one of the most impenetrably boring historical episodes to try to talk about. There is very little of that era that is easy to relate to as a modern American, few compelling characters, and an overwhelming sense of "none of this even amounted to anything, really."

I'm sure some resident expert in the Panic of 1837 will see this as a horrible insult to everything they stand for, but I've said my piece.

[SingingAnalyst]

1985-86. Pop culture was completely dominated by Madonna and Michael Jackson, who were not appreciated by the youth of their time the way they are appreciated now. US Politics was, of course, completely dominated by one man. And the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson made the covers of Time magazine (on Sept. 2, 1985 and Feb. 17, 1986, respectively). Intellectuals of the day decried the political apathy of youth as well as the vacuousness of popular culture.

Believe me, Millennials: if you missed the mid-80s, you didn't miss much (IMHO).

[Mr. Smith]

The Era of Good Feelings.

Least The Gilded Age had Machine Politics.

[TDAS04]

The Era of Good Feelings.

Least The Gilded Age had Machine Politics.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Era of Good Feelings.

Least The Gilded Age had Machine Politics.

I suppose that if you find the minutiae of political maneuvering for no greater purpose than power, machine politics could be interesting, but I don't. The most interesting aspect of the Gilded Age is the percolating labor issues with the Rise and Fall of the Knights of Labor and the Haymarket Affair among other things.

The Era of Good Feelings has McCullough v. Maryland, the Monroe Doctrine, the Compromise of 1820, among other things.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The Progressive Era: both parties were controlled by a bunch of middle-class Protestant do-gooders trying to push their morals on everyone. Vile.

[Storebought]

I don't care for the powdered wig and buckled shoes era of US history in general, but the Jefferson and Madison administrations, bracketed by the Louisiana Purchase and the 1812 War, stand out as a period of stupefying dullness.

[Stranger in a strange land]

- The 1990s (the decade about nothing)
- The Gilded Age (1880-1900 or so)

[vanguard96]

1865-1932.

or 1816-1859

The 19th century & early 20th is really interesting - too often people just study the US colonial period to the War of 1812 then fast forward to the Civil War and then to skip WWI and the start of the Depression!

[vanguard96]

The Gilded Age of the 1880's. Reconstruction was over but the worst of the Jim Crow Era was in the next decade. The West was won. We weren't engaging in overseas interventions. Politics was boring for the most part. Obviously it wasn't completely boring, it never is, but it easily was the most boring era for the United States of America to date.

Fascinating time, really - so many ideas colliding. Many things going on intellectually and in business.

[vanguard96]

1985-86. Pop culture was completely dominated by Madonna and Michael Jackson, who were not appreciated by the youth of their time the way they are appreciated now. US Politics was, of course, completely dominated by one man. And the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson made the covers of Time magazine (on Sept. 2, 1985 and Feb. 17, 1986, respectively). Intellectuals of the day decried the political apathy of youth as well as the vacuousness of popular culture.

Believe me, Millennials: if you missed the mid-80s, you didn't miss much (IMHO).

Well the alternative was the war that did not happen - it was not so far fetched that the computer glitch in the USSR could have been read as an attack and we would not be talking today.

Gorby came to power right as the Russians were testing nukes.

I was 11 & 12 but was already aware of things like the Beirut Bombing in '83 - I did a news clipping report in 4th grade on it.

So this gen X-er & Prince fan disagrees:)

[vanguard96]

The Progressive Era: both parties were controlled by a bunch of middle-class Protestant do-gooders trying to push their morals on everyone. Vile.

I heard that an unpublished Murray Rothbard book on the Progressive Era is coming soon. He wrote a lot of books that he did not get to release. Some were unfinished of course and needed notes to complete it. I am curious about this book. Naturally, as a person interested in the classical liberal movement, economic history, and increasingly philosophy this era as the defeat of classical liberalism both in the US and Europe is a key one to understand, personally.

His book on the Great Depression had a ton of data on the loose money policies of the 1920s and Hoover's own interventionism - not just the usual platitudes toward Coolidge or Hoover as 'laissez faire'. It was an interesting counter to both the usual conventional Great Depression studies which blame speculators and Hoover as a hands off president and the Milton Friedman monetarist view that the Fed did not act in line with their previous actions such as with the 1920/21 recession and did the reverse of their standard response in response to the crash and bank failures in 1929 and 1930.

Coming at it from the opposite side, many socialists seemed inclined to like particular Progressive era reforms that curbed the power of industrialists, broke up monopolies, and increased the power of unions. I thought that was a big deal for your lot. Am I mistaken? Wasn't there a crossover to some extent with actual Progressive candidates winning states like La Follette in Wisconsin in 1920. Or was their religious moralizing too much baggage to take the other part of it?

[vanguard96]

- The 1990s (the decade about nothing)
- The Gilded Age (1880-1900 or so)

So what era is interesting to you?

[Lincoln Republican]

I believe all phases of U.S. history have their exciting and interesting parts as well as their boring and not so interesting parts.

[darklordoftech]

I love U.S history and politics too much to be bored by any aspect of it.

[Sir Mohamed]

There was not much going on in the Gilded Age from about 1877 to 1895. At least politically. The presidents of that period were all weak compared to the civil war and aftermath as well post-1900. Economically though, the industrial revolution was impressing. I also like the Gilded Age Architecture.

[SingingAnalyst]

1985-86. Pop culture was completely dominated by Madonna and Michael Jackson, who were not appreciated by the youth of their time the way they are appreciated now. US Politics was, of course, completely dominated by one man. And the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson made the covers of Time magazine (on Sept. 2, 1985 and Feb. 17, 1986, respectively). Intellectuals of the day decried the political apathy of youth as well as the vacuousness of popular culture.

Believe me, Millennials: if you missed the mid-80s, you didn't miss much (IMHO).

Well the alternative was the war that did not happen - it was not so far fetched that the computer glitch in the USSR could have been read as an attack and we would not be talking today.

Gorby came to power right as the Russians were testing nukes.

I was 11 & 12 but was already aware of things like the Beirut Bombing in '83 - I did a news clipping report in 4th grade on it.

So this gen X-er & Prince fan disagrees:)

Point well taken. And yes, there was some good music in the 80s (Including Prince, for sure).

Someday I think the 1980s will be remembered as a decade when anti-gay sentiment was running high, just as the 1950s are (to an extent) remembered that way with respect to racism, McCarthyism, and anti-Semitism.

[darklordoftech]

1985-86. Pop culture was completely dominated by Madonna and Michael Jackson, who were not appreciated by the youth of their time the way they are appreciated now. US Politics was, of course, completely dominated by one man. And the Rev. Jerry Falwell and the Rev. Pat Robertson made the covers of Time magazine (on Sept. 2, 1985 and Feb. 17, 1986, respectively). Intellectuals of the day decried the political apathy of youth as well as the vacuousness of popular culture.

Believe me, Millennials: if you missed the mid-80s, you didn't miss much (IMHO).

Well the alternative was the war that did not happen - it was not so far fetched that the computer glitch in the USSR could have been read as an attack and we would not be talking today.

Gorby came to power right as the Russians were testing nukes.

I was 11 & 12 but was already aware of things like the Beirut Bombing in '83 - I did a news clipping report in 4th grade on it.

So this gen X-er & Prince fan disagrees:)

Point well taken. And yes, there was some good music in the 80s (Including Prince, for sure).

Someday I think the 1980s will be remembered as a decade when anti-gay sentiment was running high, just as the 1950s are (to an extent) remembered that way with respect to racism, McCarthyism, and anti-Semitism.

I've never heard that anti-semitism was an issue in the 1950s.

[Lincoln Republican]

Actually, I think the Gilded Age was an interesting time.

I quite enjoyed reading about the Vanderbilts and the Astors, and the other robber barons of that era.

[WritOfCertiorari]

I don't find any part especially boring, but the 1880s, 1950s, and 1990s were pretty much holding patterns, politically speaking.

I have no idea how anyone is including the 1830s, 1850s, or even....

1865-1932.

or 1816-1859

Dude wtf. So much happened in these time periods. You just called Reconstruction, the Roaring 20s, the entire lead up to the Civil War, WW1, the Jacksonian Age, all boring. I honestly think you should read up on some of these times. That's basically 111 out of 116 years. You may as well have just said everything except the Civil War and WW2.

[Higgins]

1815-1820

[Senator-elect Spark]

After the Revolutionary War. 1800-1860