The tense standoff at the Cliven Bundy ranch in Clarke County, Nevada tapped into a wellspring of government distrust that dwarfed Bundy’s specific situation. A comparable event from just over 200 years ago, the “Whiskey Rebellion,” suggests the government’s efforts
At the Sorbonne in the Grand Amphitheater at the University of Paris on April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt delivered one of his most famous and eloquent speeches. Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech was originally called “Citizenship in a Republic”
Crafter of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, father of the University of Virginia, and author of the Declaration of Independence: these three acts are how Thomas Jefferson wanted to be remembered. He had them etched on his gravestone
The New York Times recently reported on how modern epidemiology may be changing a nearly two-century-old diagnosis of the first president to die in office. Though most American’s could not pick the ninth president out of a lineup, William Henry
The Tea Party Patriots Citizen Fund is officially endorsing California 7th Congressional District Republican candidate Igor Birman in what is shaping up to be a significant 2014 race. Birman was the top aide for Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), a conservative stalwart
California seems a lost cause for conservatives around the country, an ungovernable wasteland of militant liberalism and one-party Democratic rule. The fight over the Republican Party’s future in the state is in part being fought in California’s 7th Congressional District primary,
On March 30, 1867 American Secretary of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska from Russian Minister Edouard de Stoeckl for $7.2 million, or roughly two cents per acre. After receiving news that the Czar would approve a transaction regarding Alaska,
The Washington Post reports that photos of Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession may have been discovered by Maryland retiree Paul Taylor. The series of photographs, captured in four stages, are of Grace Episcopal Church on Broadway in New York City and
The U.S. Navy was “reborn” on March 27, 1794 when Congress authorized the building of six heavy frigates. Though the new United States had a small navy during the Revolutionary War it was quickly disbanded in peacetime. However, deprivations against
Civil War historian Allen C. Guelzo won the $50,000 Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History prize for his book Gettysburg: The Last Invasion. According to the Associated Press the award was created by the “Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation and Lewis E.
Liberal Democrats and the Republican establishment have disliked Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) mainly because of his staunch fiscal conservatism and his association with the Tea Party. Now, they may be colluding to try to oust him from his House seat
There was a time in American history when insults and a lack of civil decorum in politics or otherwise came with far greater consequences, especially for men of distinction. Duels were a common way for American men of rank to
The old adage that “winners write history” is mostly untrue; historians write history. The way future generations view the past often comes through the myriad of complex and biased accounts of those who bothered to record it. In Lincoln’s Boys:
The Naval War College released a massive amount of Adm. Chester W. Nimitz’s operational diaries from World War II on Monday. The 4,000 page “Graybook” collection, funded by the Naval War College Foundation, details Nimitz’s experience as commander of the U.S.
This Wednesday, February 19, marked the 69th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. One of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific War and all of World War II, the month-long slug-fest between American and Japanese forces in many ways
In his first inaugural address as president of the United States, George Washington said, “The sacred fire of liberty and destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted
The Founding Fathers built this country with the Roman Republic’s model in mind and were even more concerned about what caused its fall than how it rose to prominence. Rob Goodman, author of a new Cato the Younger biography, Rome’s
Gen. Billy Mitchell, one of the fathers of the American Air Force, made the bold claim in 1925 that Japan would attack the militarily unprepared United States “by striking first at Hawaii, some fine Sunday morning.” Most thought Mitchell was
Although often seen as a day to kick off the Christmas shopping season, Thanksgiving is perhaps the most deeply American holiday and its tradition is connected to the idea of “American exceptionalism.” Ronald Reagan’s presidential farewell speech included a line
Although conspiracy theories abound as to who orchestrated President John F. Kennedy’s murder 50 years ago, there is little doubt regarding who actually pulled the trigger and shot the 35th president: left-wing radical Lee Harvey Oswald. This fact escapes most of
As the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination approaches, American fascination with his life and especially the circumstances of his death remains strong. Though he served less than one full term and had a number of fiascoes while
On the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the e-coupon website Groupon made light of the bloodiest war in American history. Originally spotted by Twitter user Jeff Emanuel and reported by RedState, the ad butchers both the date of
One-hundred fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln stood before a crowd of journalists, soldiers, citizens, and statesmen in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and delivered perhaps the most famous speech in the English language. Viewed in context of the Civil War in 1863,
Modern Whig Party candidate Robert “Heshy” Bucholtz, a 39-year old software engineer, was voted in as an election judge in the Democratic bastion of Rhawnhurst in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. This is one of the first Whig candidates elected since
On September 27, George Washington’s presidential library will open at the first president’s Mount Vernon, Virginia estate, just over two centuries after his death. On top of housing many important artifacts, the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study
