The Napoleonic Wars continued the Wars of the French Revolution. Great Britain and France fought for European supremacy, and treated weaker powers heavy-handedly. The United States attempted to remain neutral during the Napoleonic period, but eventually became embroiled in the European conflicts, leading to the War of 1812 against Great Britain.
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The Untimely Death of American Explorer Meriwether Lewis: Murder or Suicide?
According to a lost letter from October 19, 1809, to Thomas Jefferson, Lewis stopped at an inn on the Natchez Trace called Grinder's Stand, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Nashville on October 10. After dinner, he retired to his one-room cabin. In the predawn hours of October 11, the innkeeper's wife (Priscilla Grinder) heard gunshots. Servants found Lewis badly injured from multiple gunshot wounds, one each to ...
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “None are more Hopelessly Enslaved than Those who Falsely Believe They are Free.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 Aug 1749 – 22 Mar 1832), a German writer and statesman wrote Elective Affinities. The title is taken from a scientific term once used to describe the tendency of chemical species to combine with certain substances or species in preference to others. The novel is based on the metaphor of human passions being governed or regulated by the laws of chemical affinity, and examines whether or not ...
Thomas Jefferson: “For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security.”
Quote from the Eighth Annual Message to Congress, delivered by Thomas Jefferson on November 8, 1808: "For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security." ...
The Importation of Slaves into the United States was Prohibited
WE Americans live in a society awash in historical celebrations. The last few years have witnessed commemorations of the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase (2003) and the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II (2005). Looming on the horizon are the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth (2009) and the sesquicentennial of the outbreak of the Civil War (2011). But one significant milestone went strangely ...
Thomas Jefferson: “Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.”
Thomas Jefferson in a Letter to John Norvell, June 11, 1807: "Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle." ...
Aaron Burr Indicted by a Grand Jury on Charges of Treason against the United States of America.
"I consider Burr as a man to be shunned ... an unprincipled adventurer." -James Monroe to James Madison, August 5, 1795 Given that nearly every day in 2018 several mainstream news outlets promote reasons why President Donald Trump should be tried for treason, the story of Aaron Burr, himself once a very popular politician, takes on added significance. Add to that Burr’s prominent role in the ...
Thomas Jefferson’s Second Inaugural Address
Proceeding, fellow citizens, to that qualification which the constitution requires, before my entrance on the charge again conferred upon me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow citizens at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me, so to conduct myself as may best satisfy their just expectations. On taking this station ...
The ‘Plumb-pudding in danger’, or, ‘State Epicures taking un Petit Souper’ Cartoon
Hailed by British cartoonist and writer Martin Rowson as “the greatest political cartoon ever”, James Gillray’s The Plumb-pudding in Danger is typical of the Georgian-era caricaturist’s biting satire. Drawn in 1805, the cartoon depicts French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and British prime minister William Pitt greedily carving a plum pudding shaped like the world in an amusing metaphor for the leaders’ battle for geopolitical power. It has been widely pastiched by ...
Former United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton duals Vice President Aaron Burr
Hamilton intentionally fired into the air, but his political rival, Vice President Aaron Burr, took deadly aim and fatally shot him in a duel July 11, 1804. Alexander Hamilton was instrumental getting Thomas Jefferson chosen as the second U.S. president over Aaron Burr, who then became the vice president. Aaron Burr had fought in the Revolution, was elected to the New York State Assembly, 1784-1785, and ...
Lewis and Clark Expedition Begins Voyage to the Pacific Coast
“Ocian in view! O! the joy,” wrote William Clark in his journal, but the next day, Nov. 8, 1805, Lewis and Clark realized they were still only at Gray’s Bay, 20 miles from the Pacific. Clark wrote: “We found the swells or waves so high that we thought it imprudent to proceed. … The seas rolled and tossed the canoes in such a manner this evening ...
