The four major events significant to the founding and evolution of the United States today that I have chosen are: The positive and negative impacts of European contact , American military victory in the Revolutionary War, slavery and states' rights, Reconstruction, and the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. All four of these events from the first half of U.S. history played a critical role in transforming the United States into what it is today. The first major event in the founding and evolution of the United States is obviously the discovery of the American continents and the European contact that followed. Without this discovery, the seeds of America's expansion as a country and power on the world stage would never have been formed. Another positive aspect of European contact includes the introduction of corn, pumpkins, potatoes, papaya, pineapple, tomatoes, avocados, guavas, peanuts, chili peppers, many different types of mashed potatoes, and beans and cocoa into the world diet. European contact with the New World and Native Americans also led to the discovery and addition of cotton, rubber trees, and tobacco to world markets; all of which would go on to play an extremely important role in American history. European contact also had a negative impact. Immediately after contact with Europeans, the Native American population number decreased by approximately half. This population decline was caused primarily by deadly epidemics because Native Americans had no natural immunity against diseases brought by Europeans such as cholera, typhoid, measles, diphtheria, and smallpox. While European contact with the New World had a disastrous effect on the indigenous Native Americans, the contact had m...... middle of paper...... Over the next century, the 14th Amendment would be used by the federal government, particularly by the Supreme Court, to integrate African Americans and other cultures into society. This was and is an important step in the evolution of the United States into the melting pot of freedom that it has become known for being. All four of these events were each an important step in the evolution of the United States from barely surviving settlements of a few dozen people into the vast global economic, social, and military power that it is today. If any of these events had had a different outcome, the United States would most likely not exist, or it would still be a group of European colonies, or it would be two separate countries divided between North and South or between whites and blacks. None of these alternatives represents the United States as we know and love it today.