Worst year of the US history

[American2020]

Which's the worst year of the US history ?

[Lincoln Republican]

1860 was the worst year in U.S. history.

It had the potential to bring the entire nation down.

[OSR stands with Israel]

1862

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Probably the Civil War years

2020 is probably the worst year I’ve personally witnessed

[brucejoel99]

2001 because that's when we decided to "give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety."

[Hope For A New Era]

In the country's entire history, the Civil War years.

During my lifetime, we can add 2020, 2016, and 2001 (in that order).

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

[RINO Tom]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

Yeah, obviously the 1860s (and evening the 1870s) put this turmoil to shame ... but 2020 is zooming past anything in recent memory, considering it’s not even halfway over.

[brucejoel99]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

Yeah, obviously the 1860s (and evening the 1870s) put this turmoil to shame ... but 2020 is zooming past anything in recent memory, considering it’s not even halfway over.

Emphasis on Zoom

[RINO Tom]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

Yeah, obviously the 1860s (and evening the 1870s) put this turmoil to shame ... but 2020 is zooming past anything in recent memory, considering it’s not even halfway over.

Emphasis on Zoom

Well done, haha.

[Orser67]

The issue in answering this question for me is that a lot of the worst years to live in led to (imo) some great reforms; e.g. the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery and the 14th Amendment, the Great Depression led to the New Deal, and the troubled post-war period of the 1780s led to the U.S. Constitution. Even the frustrations and suffering of the early Civil War (which I certainly don't want to minimize) may been good in the long term, since we probably would have seen less far-reaching reforms with a shorter war.

So of the options in the poll, I might go with 1979, which was both a pretty bad year for the average American and resulted in the country shifting to the right. Now obviously, this is a heavily political take that not everyone is going to agree with, but my personal belief is that we as a country made a huge mistake in embracing the small government views of the Reagan Revolution. 1919 was also pretty bad for similar reasons, and 1968 also stands out as a particularly tough year that was sort of the beginning of the end of the New Deal coalition era. Another one I might add was 1877, where we came reasonably close to a second civil war and ended Reconstruction, ultimately consigning most African Americans to decades of disenfranchisement and oppression.

[Antonio the Sixth]

In 1862 there was a genuine, almost overwhelming prospect of the Union falling apart. It's hard to top that, even with a massive economic downturn.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

1968 when most of the Civil Era leaders were gone and Rs took.over for a generation, that lead to 33% percent of minorities living in poverty, and 66% of the prison population

[SInNYC]

I'm only counting the last 50 years, since its hard to compare with something neither I nor anybody I talk to much has actually experienced.

2020 is the worst, and this isn't a recency bias. The economy is dead, cities are burning, most of us are cooped up, kids are missing out 1 year of their education, and heaven forbid we get seriously sick since it might not even be advisable to go to the hospital. And all this is just for the majority of us - the poor and destitute have things far worse, especially if they aren't citizens.

Either 2001 or 2003 is second from a world perspective but not directly the US. The Iraq war has thrown a significant chunk of the world into turmoil, and there does not seem to be an end in sight. I'm not sure whether to attribute this to 2003, or 2001 since the two were conflated (9/11 was tragic but limited in scope).

So I'll go for 1980 as second. For all that can be said about Trump, he is really the culmination of something that started in 1980. Dismiss any serious media source as biased? check. Appoint criminals to high government offices? check. Glorify being the worst and dumbest? check. Decide that terrorists are freedom fighters as long as they are the enemies of our enemies? kind of check.

[Spark]

1861 and 2020 isn't too far behind.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Of those on the list: 1862 for the reasons Truman and others aid.

Not on the list, but late 1776 and winter 1780-1781.

These were desperate periods where the Revolution could have been lost. In the former, just prior to the battle of Trenton, Washington had been severely reduced in men and had lost NYC and most of NJ to the enemy and there was nothing to stop the British from taking Philly. While Philly did fall the next year, the Americans defeated the British at Saratoga.

In the winter of 1780-1781, things were desperate for the Army, The country was basically bankrupt with the economy in ruins and the South was occupied. While the French were sending help, it was not nearly enough to continue indefinitely and they had just come off the treason of Benedict Arnold. 1781 was really a do or die time for the American Revolution with the victories at Cowpens and then finally Yorktown ending the Southern phase of the War and convincing the British to give up on the 13 colonies and focus on defeating the French, Spanish and Dutch.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Of those on the list: 1862 for the reasons Truman and others aid.

Not on the list, but late 1776 and winter 1780-1781.

These were desperate periods where the Revolution could have been lost. In the former, just prior to the battle of Trenton, Washington had been severely reduced in men and had lost NYC and most of NJ to the enemy and there was nothing to stop the British from taking Philly. While Philly did fall the next year, the Americans defeated the British at Saratoga.

In the winter of 1780-1781, things were desperate for the Army, The country was basically bankrupt with the economy in ruins and the South was occupied. While the French were sending help, it was not nearly enough to continue indefinitely and they had just come off the treason of Benedict Arnold. 1781 was really a do or die time for the American Revolution with the victories at Cowpens and then finally Yorktown ending the Southern phase of the War and convincing the British to give up on the 13 colonies and focus on defeating the French, Spanish and Dutch.

It's remarkable how physically close Washington came to being captured in the last four months of 1776, literally coming within feet of the British forces during the retreat from Long Island. If not for the sheer arrogance of Howe and his officers returning to New York for the winter rather than continuing to pursue the Continentals, U.S. history would be six months from July 1776 to January 1777.

[Former President tack50]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

Even if the Confederacy had won it is not like the rest of the United States would have broken up? The country would obviously be a lot different, but it is not like the US would cease to exist. If anything I'd say the last time the US could have ceased to exist was when it was fighting the war of independence (even the 1812 war was in self-defence from Canada's perspective and Britain had 0 interest in reconquering the US?)

The US would still exist to this day, with still most of their current territory (minus the confederacy obviously) and would have still been the number 1 superpower for much of the 20th century, though the Cold War would have been closer and I suppose China would have already beaten the US in terms of power at the turn of the century but the US would still be a comfortable number 2.

That all assumes history still goes through a similar path as we know beyond the Civil War of course which is a big stretch but still.

[SingingAnalyst]

The issue in answering this question for me is that a lot of the worst years to live in led to (imo) some great reforms; e.g. the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery and the 14th Amendment, the Great Depression led to the New Deal, and the troubled post-war period of the 1780s led to the U.S. Constitution. Even the frustrations and suffering of the early Civil War (which I certainly don't want to minimize) may been good in the long term, since we probably would have seen less far-reaching reforms with a shorter war.

So of the options in the poll, I might go with 1979, which was both a pretty bad year for the average American and resulted in the country shifting to the right. Now obviously, this is a heavily political take that not everyone is going to agree with, but my personal belief is that we as a country made a huge mistake in embracing the small government views of the Reagan Revolution. 1919 was also pretty bad for similar reasons, and 1968 also stands out as a particularly tough year that was sort of the beginning of the end of the New Deal coalition era. Another one I might add was 1877, where we came reasonably close to a second civil war and ended Reconstruction, ultimately consigning most African Americans to decades of disenfranchisement and oppression.

1968 and 1979 are both good choices.

The irony of 1968 is that so many indicators were good: income inequality was near its 1973 all-time low, unemployment was near an all-time low (3.5%), and American optimism was near its peak (which in my estimation was reached between the Moon landings of July 20, 1969 and the Manson killings of Aug. 9, 1969). Yet there were two political assassinations, riots in DC and other cities (and, one can be sure, a violent police response), a Democratic convention that nearly tore the country apart (including what was later described as a "police riot"), the George Wallace candidacy that, if successful, may have led to civil war, and the War in Vietnam was starting to turn against the US.

1979 was perhaps unique in that the angst and malaise were felt not only on Main Street, but in popular culture as well, and in many areas of life. While Blacks had made significant strides in the 1970s in cultural acceptance and political representation, violent crime was horrifyingly high (the Homicide rate among Black men was about double what it is today). The national homicide rate was 10.0 per 100,000 population, near its 1980 peak of 10.7. Gas prices rose rapidly, from about 68 cents in early February to $1 by July; it seemed almost every week, "service station" employees were replacing the price placards with higher numbers. Gas lines were ubiquitous, they even made it to movie portrayals such as in "Superman II" (1980). Unemployment was starting to rise, and double-digit inflation was the new normal ("stagflation"). This was not an elite-vs-Main Street situation: President Carter was widely disliked and mocked by the political and cultural elite. A chart-topping song by the rock group Styx contained the line "the headlines read, there are the worst of times" and made reference to people locking their doors and hiding inside, presumably from fear of crime. 1979 left nothing untouched: it was on May 21st of that year that riots broke out in San Francisco over the light sentence given to Dan White, killer of Harvey Milk, and on April 30th that Detroit Edison discontinued its 90-year-old practice of exchanging used light bulbs for new. Finally, the divorce rate reached a record high from 1979-1981.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

This list suffers from a powerful recency bias, but of the dates listed (and probably of those not listed) I voted for 1862, which was arguably the last time when the U.S. could plausibly have ceased to exist.

Even if the Confederacy had won it is not like the rest of the United States would have broken up? The country would obviously be a lot different, but it is not like the US would cease to exist. If anything I'd say the last time the US could have ceased to exist was when it was fighting the war of independence (even the 1812 war was in self-defence from Canada's perspective and Britain had 0 interest in reconquering the US?)

The US would still exist to this day, with still most of their current territory (minus the confederacy obviously) and would have still been the number 1 superpower for much of the 20th century, though the Cold War would have been closer and I suppose China would have already beaten the US in terms of power at the turn of the century but the US would still be a comfortable number 2.

That all assumes history still goes through a similar path as we know beyond the Civil War of course which is a big stretch but still.

It really is. Taking it for granted that the U.S. would keep control of its OTL territory minus the eleven Confederate states is a dubious assumption at best. We know in reality that the Confederacy coveted the Southwest, while the border states (particularly Missouri) would have remained sharply divided. (It's not difficult to imagine St. Louis as a kind of North American Alsace-Lorraine.) Meanwhile, an independent South means the Midwest no longer has free access to the Gulf via the Mississippi River, with enormous implications for the post-war economy. In short, even if there were no more secessions after 1861 (a very big if when one considers the many secessionist plots simmering in California and the Midwest), a Confederate victory would change the North American political and commercial landscape dramatically. Partisan politics would be similarly effected: without the Solid South, the Democracy would need to evolve to appeal to new constituencies, and it's likely "waving the bloody shirt" has a very different connotation ITTL. That's not even to mention the foreign policy implications: does a United States with a powerful, hostile neighbor on its Southern border (possibly with the diplomatic and/or military support of Britain and France) still pursue imperialism in the later nineteenth century; or does it instead focus on mustering its military and industrial strength for a reconquista? How does that impact WWI and beyond? (If the U.S. never acquires Hawai'i, do we still intervene in WWII, assuming there is a WWII.)

All of this is counterfactual, obviously, but handwaving the breakup of the Union as a minor obstacle to the progress of history as we know it strikes me as frankly ignorant of what was actually at stake in 1862 and how the American Civil War differs from European separatist wars.