Secular
History of 9/11, Twenty-five Years Ago: Patriot Day
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF PATRIOT DAY: 9/11 Twenty-five Years Ago Podcast n 9/11, September 11, 2001, twenty-five years ago, more Americans were killed on American soil in one day than in any attack since Pearl Harbor in 1941. A series of terrorist airplane hijacking attacks occurred in New York City, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon… and the world…
Read MoreHistory of Labor Day: What’s Work Got To Do With It?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF LABOR DAY abor Day is the day we celebrate the process our mothers went through to deliver us at birth. Sorry, wrong holiday; Labor Day in the U.S. is the day we celebrate the achievements of the American labor movement. Because Labor Day is always observed on the first Monday in September, the…
Read MoreHistory of the California Gold Rush: How It Created the State
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH On August 19, 1848, the New York Herald reported news of the California Gold Rush along the American East Coast. It was not new news to those further West, as the gold rush had started in January and was publicized in San Francisco in March. However, the New York…
Read MoreHistory of August: Who Is It Named After?
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF AUGUST hat’s in a name? The name of this month was not always August; previously, the Romans referred to it as Sextilis. Because the calendar then started in March, this was the sixth month. This was back in the days of Romulus in 753 B.C., when there were originally ten months (… Sept,…
Read MoreHistory of Bastille Day: Its Relation to the French Revolution
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF BASTILLE DAY ach year on July 14, Bastille Day commemorates the Storming of the Bastille in Paris in 1789, an important date in the French Revolution. Also known as French National Day, it features feasting, fireworks, public dancing, and an address by the French President. However, the center of this celebration is the…
Read MoreIs America a Christian Country?
Reading Time: 9 minutesIS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY? n response to a recent article I published, one of my readers asked me this question: “Is America a Christian country?” My students have asked me this question often over the years. It usually takes me several lessons to lay the historical foundation to address the question. The answer is complex,…
Read MoreHistory of Independence Day: Was the Declaration of Independence really signed on July 4, 1776?
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE DAY Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial Podcast version [In my previous article, I wrote about Thomas Jefferson, a man of paradox: liberty-loving slaveholder, Indian-loving relocationist, publicly frugal and privately bankrupt, a constitutional conservative who bought the Louisiana Territory in 1803.] ndependence Day, also known as…
Read MoreHistory of the 4th of July: Thomas Jefferson
Reading Time: 7 minutesHISTORY OF THE 4th OF JULY: THOMAS JEFFERSON Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial Podcast version [In my previous article, I wrote about John Adams, the first Vice President of the United States under George Washington, the second President of the United States, the first resident of the White House,…
Read MoreHistory of John Adams
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 4TH OF JULY: JOHN ADAMS Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial Podcast version [In my previous article, I discussed Ben Franklin, the most multidimensional Founding Father, a self-made gentleman-scientist who was the most famous American in Europe] efore John Adams became the first Vice President of the…
Read MoreHistory of George Washington: Father of the Nation
Reading Time: 8 minutesHISTORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON: FATHER OF THE NATION Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial [In my previous article, I discussed how the Founding Father John Witherspoon, immersed in both the Enlightenment and Presbyterian Christianity, was a professor and college president. Today’s Founding Father never went to college, but had a different kind…
Read MoreAmerican Revolution: Reason and Religion
Reading Time: 5 minutesAmerican Revolution – Reason and Religion Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial Podcast version [In my previous article, I discussed how America’s experiment in self-government has been unique across 250 years.] wo waves propelled the 13 colonies into the prospect of independence from England and a call to write…
Read MoreHistory of Juneteenth: and the Emancipation Proclamation
Reading Time: 4 minutesHISTORY OF JUNETEENTH: and the Emancipation Proclamation une Nineteenth, or Juneteenth, historically marked the celebration of the emancipation of African-American slaves in Texas in 1865. While the annual celebration started in Texas the following year in 1866, and became an official Texas state holiday there in 1980, this formerly obscure holiday is now observed across…
Read More