I mean 1860 is when the civil war happened, possibly the worst time in American history. And the 70s were the end of Vietnam, another terrible time. Cynical elites have been apart of American history at every point between those two dates. I don’t think you can pick a time where America was really great or perfect. The only real example I can think of is the end of WW2 where American industry accounted for a staggering 50% of the world’s industrial output.
I'm not an expert on US history, yes. I was aiming for "well before 1900, about the time of the first industrial boom" and "slightly before the mergers and acquisitions craze of the 80s".
The US had the or one of the best fed, healthiest, best educated populations in the world around 1900. That was a clear success and it didn't start then.
It was good around 1880-1900 while Reconstruction was going but got bad again for anyone non-white a bit after when eg they elected Woodrow Wilson who was absolutely insanely racist.
