Henninger, What If Benchmark

For the fourth quarter benchmark for American History we had to choose a Point of Divergence(POD) in America and envision how the US would be different today due to this change. For my POD I chose to make Ulysses S. Grant die in the Mexican American War. This would eventually cause the Union to lose the Civil War because he could not be a leader in the war. Many changes occurred from this loss by the US; the Confederate states seceded, the United States completely cut itself from the outside world, offered no help in WWII, the axis powers won WWII, Germany gained control of all of Europe and North America, The US and CSA rebelled against the German power, and only became the US again in 2007. The United States in 2012 is a country rebuilding itself, reestablishing it's government and global reputation. It consists of 18 states and is not known for luxury. It is only similar to the real 2012 in that the citizens are free people. 

This project showed how important one event can be in history. The smallest change can affect so much. One man's death, in my scenario, changed an entire world's history. There were also small decisions that I envisioned for the project that I could have changed, and then a completely new America could have been created. Every decision made by someone could effect everyone else on the planet and no one has any idea what will happen. This project taught me a lot about why it's important to make the right decisions because it could affect everyone, everywhere. 

The project, in it's entirety, I am very happy with. The project guidelines allowed us to be very created and do almost anything we wanted with American history. I love the timeline I created in my project. I created a very different and dramatic story for America. There are only a few things I would change if given the chance. I would make it look more professional by keeping the design consistent through all on the pages and documents. I also would have added for detail to my historical events. Overall, though, I am very proud of my end product. 

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