US
History of Michaelmas: Who is St. Michael?
Reading Time: 9 minutesHISTORY OF MICHAELMAS eptember 29 is Michaelmas, meaning “Michael’s Mass” or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels. It’s known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels, in the Roman Catholic Church, or as the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels in the Anglican Church. The Eastern Orthodox Church, instead,…
Read MoreHistory of The Constitution of the United States: 239 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial Podcast n September 17, 1787, the US 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,…
Read MoreHistory 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 19th Amendment: Women’s Right to Vote, 106 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT: WOMEN’S RIGHT TO VOTE ver a hundred years ago, on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. This prohibited the federal and state governments from denying citizens of the United States the right to vote on the basis of sex. Effectively, this meant that 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 Woodstock: Almost 60 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF WOODSTOCK August 15 marks the anniversary of the “3 Days of Peace & Music” held in 1969 at Max Yasgur‘s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the village of Woodstock. This outdoor music event, despite thunderstorms, gave voice to the counterculture youth generation of its time. A documentary film followed…
Read MoreHistory of the 1st Moon Landing – Apollo 11: 57 Years Ago
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF THE 1ST MOON LANDING: APOLLO 11 ifty-seven years ago today, at 4:17 Eastern Time, July 20, 1969, the American lunar module touched down on the Moon, and about seven hours later, at 10:56:15 pm EDT, the first human stepped out of the Apollo 11 lunar module onto the Moon. With the immortal words…
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 the American Experiment: A Democracy or A Republic?
Reading Time: 8 minutesHISTORY OF THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT: A DEMOCRACY OR A REPUBLIC? Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial ur quarter-millennium experiment with non-monarchical self-government, now 250 years old, remains singular in history. See my previous article on the American uniqueness compared to other nations throughout history. Congress had authorized George Washington to command…
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,…
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