Posts Tagged ‘Founding Father’
History of Presidents Day: More than just Washington and Lincoln?
HISTORY OF PRESIDENTS DAY During my lifetime, two American holidays got consolidated into one. In 1971, a day between both Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12 and Washington’s Birthday on February 22 became a single holiday, Presidents Day — alternately spelled Presidents’ Day, or incorrectly as President’s Day (it’s plural) — to be observed on the…
Read MoreHistory of Ben Franklin: The Original Founding Father?
HISTORY OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN We know this polymath as a writer, publisher, printer, merchant, scientist, moral philosopher, international diplomat, and inventor. He invented the glass harmonica in music, but he also created the Franklin stove and started the first lending library and fire brigade in Philadelphia. He did experiments with electricity and developed the lightning…
Read MoreHistory of the Constitution of the United States: 235 Years Ago
HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES On September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution was created. Though it would take until June 21, 1788, to be ratified and until March 4, 1789, to be effective In a very real sense, it was the founding document of the federal governmental system of the United States…
Read MoreHistory of Independence Day: Was the Declaration of Independence really signed on July 4, 1776?
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE DAY Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, celebrates the adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, of the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the severance of the allegiance of the American colonies to Great Britain. It is the most significant secular holiday in the United States, observed in all the…
Read MoreHistory of Alexander Hamilton
HISTORY OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON Alexander Hamilton has gained new popularity in recent years, in large part due to the 2015 Broadway musical “Hamilton” by Lin-Manuel Miranda. What’s the real story behind this enigmatic Founding Father?
Read MoreHistory of James Madison
HISTORY OF JAMES MADISON Among the Founding Fathers, James Madison has justly been called “the Father of the Constitution,” and one might think that the Constitution became active on July 5, 1776, but this is not how it happened. The American Constitution didn’t go into effect until almost a decade and a half after the…
Read MoreHistory of John Adams
HISTORY OF THE 4TH OF JULY: JOHN ADAMS Before John Adams became the first Vice President of the United States under George Washington, second President of the United States, the first resident of the White House, and writer of the Massachusetts State Constitution he had a role during the Revolutionary War period as one of the…
Read MoreHistory of the 4th of July: Thomas Jefferson
HISTORY OF THE 4th OF JULY: THOMAS JEFFERSON Perhaps no one person is more associated with the 4th of July in American History than Thomas Jefferson, probably because it was his hand that penned the immortal Declaration of Independence. As my friend Clay Jenkinson — who has been portraying Jefferson for over 20 years —…
Read MoreHistory of the Midnight Justices: Who Appoints the Supreme Court?
HISTORY OF THE MIDNIGHT JUSTICES: WHO APPOINTS THE SUPREME COURT In the news, you’ve seen the topic of “court-packing” related to the U.S. Supreme Court. But is this a new thing, and what does it mean? Court-packing involves one branch of the government proposing to change the courts’ structure by either expanding or decreasing the…
Read MoreHistory of Hamilton – The Musical
HISTORY OF HAMILTON – THE MUSICAL Hamilton – The Musical, how accurate historically is the recent Broadway blockbuster, currently available on Disney+ TV? It’s based on the 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, but does Hamilton – The Musical compare favorably to the actual history? The Set-Up As an aficionado of musical…
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