In 1776, Thomas Paine suggested that America under a government of her own could be as happy as she pleases: she hath a blank sheet...

In 1776, Thomas Paine suggested that America "under a government of her own" could be "as happy as she pleases: she hath a blank sheet to write upon." What, in your estimation, are the most important things that America wrote on her slate in the more than two centuries between the first settlements and the outset of the Civil War? Why?