History Channel's 10 Most Important Days in American History (Unexpected Days)

[Spartan117]

a little off topic
just read in chicago sun times, survey 75% of people surveyed 18-24 dont know where israael is at on a map...60% didnt know where iraq is

some people didnt know where india is at

although this survey is not really reliable but i wounder how many americans really know this...its not htatstudents are not taught this,my opinion.. but people just dont take an interest to geography and more to what paris hilton did... i know i am generalizing a bit but it is somewhat like that

 

[Mano3]

@mano: Again, the idea is "unexpectedly" ...

As with all of history, hindsight is 20/20.

Thanks for the correction on Scopes.

 

[7ronin]

Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were white. James Chaney was black.

 

[Olorin0222]

Regarding Antietam:

There are a couple of reasons why this battle made the list. First, the Rebels had been advancing on all fronts throughout the summer and were seemingly unstoppable. Advances were made in Missouri and Northern Mississippi, and Confederates had advanced as far north into Kentucky as Frankfort, with scouts pushing into the outer reaches of Louisville. A Confederate victory in Maryland may have been decisive in the fact that Northern morale may have collapsed. It was also the Confederacy's only real chance at defeating the North militarily.

Second, the victory at Antietam allowed Lincoln to release the Emancipation Proclamation, without it appearing like "the last gasp on the retreat" as Secretary of State Seward said. While a weak document, the Proclamation was a mighty act, unifying the north around a new cause, pushing the North permanently onto the moral high ground, and sealed the South diplomatically away from any foreign aid from France and England.