I asked Murica1776 (famous for further developing CoCaro on the Expanded Universe thread of What Madness Is This) on country development. The response was instructive. Hope, fears, personality, neighbors, traumatic events and how they affected the country, politics, and economics are very important. So here's my take.
Database Sample
N-6 United States
Darkest Fear: Not living up to the ideals of its founding fathers/Becoming a bastardization of what it was intended to be. As a result, education sector has large amounts of “Civics Education” on the virtues of the founders and the importance of the American ideals. This is an important part of the “Education Revolution”. Another fear is fear of being invaded/conquered so there is a large military and fort buildup to prevent this.
Hopes and Dreams: The great hope is to live up to what the U.S. Constitution says, and to make America a beacon for other nations. The American Dream forms early and many politicians want to make this a reality.
Personality: At this point, still very idealistic. Courageous, almost. Frontier areas are very free-spirited. Civil rights will become important after 1836 after the end of slavery and the retooling of movements for other equal rights such as the end of urban discrimination on immigrants and women’s suffrage. There is also going to be a movement called “Exporting the Revolution” that, while not officially endorsed by the U.S. government, is partially responsible for the success of the Canadian Rebellion and the formation of the U.S. sphere of influence.
Resources/Economics: Still mostly agricultural (and that wouldn't change until 1870s). Wheat, corn, and other food crops in the west, more industry to the east (especially New England). Textile industry very important at this stage, and mining in the west will soon become important. Cattle ranching leads to the rise of great meatpacking industries (and eventually a book that details the abuses of the various meatpacking industries).
Leadership/Politics. 2-party system in place--know nothings attempted to become a 3rd party but dwindled over time. They were strongest in late 1820s early 1830s before dwindling after 1836 due to people thinking they were dangerous. Hasn't been a downright terrible President (although Clay 2nd term isn't good since he couldn't dig out of an economic panic). Most of the “Bad” presidents are/will be bad because they just coasted on their predecessors.
Traumatic event in the nation's past--Ga, NC, SC "chickening out" of the Continental Congress. This causes great enmity between North and South (which trade has only partially mitigated). There isn’t a desire to retake the south due to Great Britain, but most of the people (other than big industrialists) hate their counterparts across the border. Also a great fury at any social injustice, not just slavery, to make the Founders proud.
Neighbors: Aforementioned southern states (hated--they became British Columbia), Canada (which had 1837-38 rebellions modeled after the American Revolution). US attempts to stay neutral in European politics although some US traders do sympathize with their French and British counterparts trying to get trade in China. This did not deter American volunteers from trying to spread democracy in rebellions in Europe. This action also caused the British Empire to be suspicious of the United States of America in the late 19th Century.
Battles: Barbary Battles justified the growth of the US Navy. Besides American Revolution, many volunteers would stream into Canada (but no official involvement) to support the Canadian rebellion. Native American war/Westward expansion, but those are not particularly difficult opponents. There will be a Mexican war as westward expansion continues. This will lead to a US win and further expansion. After the victory in Mexico, there were some final Native American Wars, as well as some American volunteers helping in rebellions to spread democracy. The "Dreadful War" is arriving, and it will cause massive changes for the U.S.
