A Separate Nation In early July, 1776, America was on the verge of independence from Great Britain, and revolutionary leader John Adams of Massachusetts looked forward with great anticipation of making it official. While writing to his wife, Abigail, John Adams made an accurate prophesy about future commemorations of independence. He said: “It will be celebrated … Continue reading
The Crash of 1929 was one of the most destructive and damaging financial occurrences of the twentieth century. There is a saying that goes,…“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” That is precisely what happened to the American economy in October 1929. The Roaring Twenties was one of the country’s best decades. World War … Continue reading
There was much more to Francis Scott Key than just one song. Francis Scott Key was born in Maryland on August 1, 1779. He was the son of an army officer in the Revolutionary War. Francis grew up well educated and received his law degree and opened his first law practice in Frederick, Maryland in … Continue reading
“No person shall ever be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments” As the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was dismantling the Articles of Confederation and drafting a new charter for the United States that would put the Confederation Congress out of business, Congress was recording its most significant achievement. The Northwest Ordinance … Continue reading
By the 1873 Treaty of Paris, the boundaries of the new nation had been set. The Constitution of four years later coincided with the end of a serious post-Revolutionary economic depression; a vigorous economic and political life characterized the decade. Equally energetic, settlers moved over the plains and prairies and rolling foothills to the Rockies … Continue reading
“A law repugnant to the Constitution is void” In this historic fundamental decision, the U.S. Supreme Court applied the emergent doctrine of judicial review to a Congressional statute for the first time. John Marshall (1755–1835), Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court opined for the unanimous court of five justices that the section of … Continue reading
Mercy Warren, A Columbian Patriot 1788 It wasn’t until 1930 that family papers proved that the playwright, historian (three volumes on the War of Independence with intimate comments on the important personages of the day), and Grumbletonian Mercy Otis Warren (1728–1814) was a “Columbian Patriot,’ who had argued heatedly against ratification of the Constitution, the … Continue reading
The Constitution details and circumscribes the legislative and executive branches of the new government but sets out only the barest of outlines for the new judiciary: Article III, Section 1 vests the judicial power of the United States “in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time … Continue reading
The Alphabet And The Trail Of Tears Sequoyah had his revelation in central Alabama, at the 1812 battle of Horseshoe Bend, where the U.S. Army vanquished the Creek, or Muskogee, Indians. According to some records, Sequoyah was the son of a Cherokee Indian Princess and Nathaniel Gist, an officer under the command of George Washington. … Continue reading
Creator of Literary Genres There are many different and varied bookstores around the country today that are filled with all types and kinds of books written and dedicated to the edgy genres of fantasy, horror, science-fiction, detective stories, historical novels, and the like. The creator of these off-center and hugely popular genres lived an off-beat … Continue reading
