Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony
Despite the fact that the Pilgrims figure prominently into our Thanksgiving myth, the Pilgrims were far less important to the development of New England or the American Idea than the Puritans.
Monday, June 28, 2010
The Glorious Revolution
For those who ascribe to the paradigm that the evolution of the American Idea was a function of realities, events and relationships in both the colonies and the "motherland". The Glorious revolution of 1688 undoubtedly played a role in the lead up to the Revolution, even though it was an English event.
The Glorious Revolution
A Lone Tree in the Dells, Prescott Arizona
20" x 30"
Signed numbered and dated by the artist
$495
Proceeds from the sale of this image are shared with "Futures for Children" a nonprofit organization providing support and educational assistant to Indian children,
The Glorious Revolution
A Lone Tree in the Dells, Prescott Arizona
20" x 30"
Signed numbered and dated by the artist
$495
Proceeds from the sale of this image are shared with "Futures for Children" a nonprofit organization providing support and educational assistant to Indian children,
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Missouri Compromise
“This momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union.”- Thomas Jefferson 1820
The Missouri Compromise was the quintessential sausage making experiment by the United States Congress. Not capable of being described in a single sentence. In essence the decision divided the remaining unincorporated territories up based on a geographic line above which would be free and below which would be slave. This was seen by Jefferson as a sure sign that the Union was in mortal danger from the institution that he had tried to elininate in his first draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Wikipedia
The Act of Congress
"How long will the desire for wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies and souls of our fellow men in chains?" Asked Representative Arthur Livermore from New Hampshire.
From Wikipedia: Arthur Livermore (July 29, 1766 – July 1, 1853) was a United States Representative from New Hampshire. He was the son of Samuel Livermore a signer of the Declaration and a representative to the Continental Congress. Both he and his brother Edward St. Loe Livermore, served in the United States Congress. He was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
The Missouri Compromise was the quintessential sausage making experiment by the United States Congress. Not capable of being described in a single sentence. In essence the decision divided the remaining unincorporated territories up based on a geographic line above which would be free and below which would be slave. This was seen by Jefferson as a sure sign that the Union was in mortal danger from the institution that he had tried to elininate in his first draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Wikipedia
The Act of Congress
"How long will the desire for wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies and souls of our fellow men in chains?" Asked Representative Arthur Livermore from New Hampshire.
From Wikipedia: Arthur Livermore (July 29, 1766 – July 1, 1853) was a United States Representative from New Hampshire. He was the son of Samuel Livermore a signer of the Declaration and a representative to the Continental Congress. Both he and his brother Edward St. Loe Livermore, served in the United States Congress. He was born in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Martin Luther King Jr. of the 17th Century ?
William Penn's Bold and Successful Experiment
Nearly 100 years before the United States declaration and more than 100 before the Constitution a Quaker businessman named William Penn would launch a model of governance that would become one of the principle models on which the new republic would be built.
Penn was granted a "Proprietary Colony" when, in 1982, James Duke of York, the future James II of England, handed over a large piece of his American holdings to Penn. Penn could have chosen the run this new area as his own personal fiefdom but instead he began to immediately work on a model of governance called the Pennsylvania Frame of Governance.
While the colony still functioned under the Royal Charter, the Pennsylvania Frame of Governance supplemented the Royal Charter with broad principles embracing complete religious toleration and broader freedoms. Though never adopted in its complete form the Pennsylvania legislature eventually adopted an amended form of it * - Penn's idea was one of the first "blows" on behalf of a set of ideals that would eventually form the American idea for a new Republic.
The fourth version of this work was titled the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges and would last until it was replaced with the state constitution following the Revolution.
William Penn - America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace by Jim Powell, editor of Laissez-Faire Books and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
Pennsylvania History - William Penn
Pluralism in the Middle Colonies
* The very notion that the frameworks was not "adopted" by the legislature that was arguably governing Penn's own colony is demonstrative of the leadership style of this extraordinary man.
Nearly 100 years before the United States declaration and more than 100 before the Constitution a Quaker businessman named William Penn would launch a model of governance that would become one of the principle models on which the new republic would be built.
Penn was granted a "Proprietary Colony" when, in 1982, James Duke of York, the future James II of England, handed over a large piece of his American holdings to Penn. Penn could have chosen the run this new area as his own personal fiefdom but instead he began to immediately work on a model of governance called the Pennsylvania Frame of Governance.
While the colony still functioned under the Royal Charter, the Pennsylvania Frame of Governance supplemented the Royal Charter with broad principles embracing complete religious toleration and broader freedoms. Though never adopted in its complete form the Pennsylvania legislature eventually adopted an amended form of it * - Penn's idea was one of the first "blows" on behalf of a set of ideals that would eventually form the American idea for a new Republic.
The fourth version of this work was titled the Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges and would last until it was replaced with the state constitution following the Revolution.
William Penn - America's First Great Champion for Liberty and Peace by Jim Powell, editor of Laissez-Faire Books and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.
Pennsylvania History - William Penn
Pluralism in the Middle Colonies
* The very notion that the frameworks was not "adopted" by the legislature that was arguably governing Penn's own colony is demonstrative of the leadership style of this extraordinary man.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Interpretations of History
We often talk of bias when discussing the interpretation of history - eith bias used in its most pejorative sense - but the truth is that all history - even the most contemporaneous accounts of historical situations, involves a level of bias that recognizes that the very state of being human leads naturally to an interpretation of every experience within the context of our other experiences.
Here is a lesson plan, designed for college students but appropriate for secondary school students, designed to get students thinking about perspective and experience as it relates to the interpretation of history - or in events and "facts" themselves.
The description and assignment - read and discuss two different versions of the American revolution.
The documents for the exercise.
Here is a lesson plan, designed for college students but appropriate for secondary school students, designed to get students thinking about perspective and experience as it relates to the interpretation of history - or in events and "facts" themselves.
The description and assignment - read and discuss two different versions of the American revolution.
The documents for the exercise.
Slavery - The Shaming of the American Idea
Of all the sins of our forefathers, slavery, even more than the ethnic cleansing of Indian cultures is the greatest stain upon the American idea. No discussion of the theme of slavery can consider slavery devoid of the morality of the decisions that brought it about, maintained it and finally brought it to an end.
Madison, Jefferson and Washington were all slave holders, though each of them were individually troubled, even tortured, by the hypocrisy of their positions.
Stanford University Panel:
Jefferson and Madison and the problem of Slavery in an Empire of Liberty
(April 7, 2009) Jack Rakove, Caroline Winterer, and Annette Gordon-Reed discuss the politics surrounding American slavery during the 18th century in the first of a series of four lectures on the American Revolutionary era sponsored by Stanford University. Listen
Was slavery a good economic system?
Is the economic strength or lack of economic strength in the South today in any way a reflection of the legacy of slavery?
The Triangular Trade or the Slave Trade?
Some textbooks have engaged in the historic cleansing of the realities of the slave trade. In this description of regional differences in the colonies taken from Jerome Reich's textbook on Colonial History , the author uses the term "The Triangular Trade" to replace the term "Slave Trade." Triangular Trade during this period was not at all an unusual phenomenon. It occurred to some extent in all trading simply because, ships needed to be full in both directions in order to maximize profits and it was unusual to have a set of needs that formed the mirror image of one another where a shipping route between two points satisfied all the needs of the region. The norm instead was that good from one place were traded for goods in another place which were then sold or traded to a third location, meeting the needs of all three (or more) locations. Therefore, there was no single Triangular trade in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, there we literally thousands of them. Yet somehow the slave trade - which took on the form of this classical trade pattern - has been deemed by certain textbook publishers and authors at THE Triangular Trade. Critics condemn the use of the term as a whitewashing of the slave trade, a denial of the inhumanity of a system of trade that involved the trafficking of human beings as a part of the commerce.
The Terrible Transformation: The Narrative of Olaudah Equiano
Google Books Version - Difficult to read
LibreVox - Text and Audio - Recommended
Madison, Jefferson and Washington were all slave holders, though each of them were individually troubled, even tortured, by the hypocrisy of their positions.
Stanford University Panel:
Jefferson and Madison and the problem of Slavery in an Empire of Liberty
(April 7, 2009) Jack Rakove, Caroline Winterer, and Annette Gordon-Reed discuss the politics surrounding American slavery during the 18th century in the first of a series of four lectures on the American Revolutionary era sponsored by Stanford University. Listen
Was slavery a good economic system?
Is the economic strength or lack of economic strength in the South today in any way a reflection of the legacy of slavery?
The Triangular Trade or the Slave Trade?
Some textbooks have engaged in the historic cleansing of the realities of the slave trade. In this description of regional differences in the colonies taken from Jerome Reich's textbook on Colonial History , the author uses the term "The Triangular Trade" to replace the term "Slave Trade." Triangular Trade during this period was not at all an unusual phenomenon. It occurred to some extent in all trading simply because, ships needed to be full in both directions in order to maximize profits and it was unusual to have a set of needs that formed the mirror image of one another where a shipping route between two points satisfied all the needs of the region. The norm instead was that good from one place were traded for goods in another place which were then sold or traded to a third location, meeting the needs of all three (or more) locations. Therefore, there was no single Triangular trade in the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s, there we literally thousands of them. Yet somehow the slave trade - which took on the form of this classical trade pattern - has been deemed by certain textbook publishers and authors at THE Triangular Trade. Critics condemn the use of the term as a whitewashing of the slave trade, a denial of the inhumanity of a system of trade that involved the trafficking of human beings as a part of the commerce.
The Terrible Transformation: The Narrative of Olaudah EquianoGoogle Books Version - Difficult to read
LibreVox - Text and Audio - Recommended
Colonial Regions Roots and Reasons
Looking back on the early colonial period one can't help but wonder how three regions so different could eventually come together to form a Union that would reshape the world. Even within the three regions sub-regions developed that had profound effects on the development of the colonies and eventually on the new republic itself.
An Overview of the Regional Development of the Colonies of North America:
If you have not yet read the brief piece from Jerome Reiche's book Colonial America, please read it here.
Three Colonial Regions
Northern Region:
New England
The Founding of the Plymouth Colony - From Conceived in Liberty
The Puritans Purify Theocracy in Massachusetts
The Thanksgiving myth - obviously not an objective piece but accurate nonetheless.
The Massachusetts Bay Company/Colony
The Puritans
The Salem Witch Trials - Wikipedia
The ideals of the Puritans eventually began to form the core of a theocratic rule where the church controlled more and more the direction of governance within the colony. This reality led to the formation of groups that bucked the religious establishment. Tow leaders within this system were Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. Both eventually were formally banned and both went on to form countervailing forces within the colonies. Leading toward the days of the Awakening when the forces of individual spirituality would come to predominate the more traditional (puritanical) theocracy imposed by the Puritan religious leaders.
Anne Hutchinson is Banished from the Colony
Wikipedia Biography
US History Biography
Roger Williams is Banished and founds Rhode Island
Biography
Wikipedia Bio
Family Biography and Association
Resources:
Chronicles of the First Plymouth Colony - Google Books
Mourts Relation - Plymouth Plantation - Google Books
Middle Region
New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey
The Middle Colonies Overview - Cerritos College, CA
William Penn and the Middle Colonies
Penn - The MLK of the Colonial World
Southern Regions
Virginia, Georgia, The Carolinas
The Virginia Company
From Company to Royal Colony
The Social Structures of Virginia
Part 1
Part 2
Bacon's Rebellion
A precoursor to Revolution or an act of insurrection and oppression?
Timeslines:
Horizontal Timeline - quite useful
Scarborough HS
The Avalon Project - Yale University has collected important documents by chronology
An Overview of the Regional Development of the Colonies of North America:
If you have not yet read the brief piece from Jerome Reiche's book Colonial America, please read it here.
Three Colonial Regions
Northern Region:
New England
The Founding of the Plymouth Colony - From Conceived in Liberty
The Puritans Purify Theocracy in Massachusetts
The Thanksgiving myth - obviously not an objective piece but accurate nonetheless.
The Massachusetts Bay Company/Colony
The Puritans
The Salem Witch Trials - Wikipedia
The ideals of the Puritans eventually began to form the core of a theocratic rule where the church controlled more and more the direction of governance within the colony. This reality led to the formation of groups that bucked the religious establishment. Tow leaders within this system were Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams. Both eventually were formally banned and both went on to form countervailing forces within the colonies. Leading toward the days of the Awakening when the forces of individual spirituality would come to predominate the more traditional (puritanical) theocracy imposed by the Puritan religious leaders.
Anne Hutchinson is Banished from the Colony
Wikipedia Biography
US History Biography
Roger Williams is Banished and founds Rhode Island
Biography
Wikipedia Bio
Family Biography and Association
Resources:
Chronicles of the First Plymouth Colony - Google Books
Mourts Relation - Plymouth Plantation - Google Books
Middle Region
New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey
The Middle Colonies Overview - Cerritos College, CA
William Penn and the Middle Colonies
Penn - The MLK of the Colonial World
Southern Regions
Virginia, Georgia, The Carolinas
The Virginia Company
From Company to Royal Colony
The Social Structures of Virginia
Part 1
Part 2
Bacon's Rebellion
A precoursor to Revolution or an act of insurrection and oppression?
Timeslines:
Horizontal Timeline - quite useful
Scarborough HS
The Avalon Project - Yale University has collected important documents by chronology
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Vanishing - The Disapearance of Roanoke Colony
One of the lasting mysteries of the colonial period, what happened to the colony of Roanoke, believed to be the second "permanent" settlement of Europeans in the New World.
The Lost Colony of Roanoke - American History Mysteries
The Lost Colony of Roanoke - American History Mysteries
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Birth, Death and Rebirth of the American Banking System
A Philosophical Clash with Economic Ramifications
Hamilton vs Jefferson and Madison and the Bank of The United States
Following the Revolution there existed no formal banking system in the young Republic. In the last decade of the eighteenth century the United States had just three banks and more than fifty different currencies in circulation: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese coinage, local money issued by states, cities, and businesses. White the national currencies were more stable than the local ones and more broadly traded, overall the currency values were very unstable creating a climate where currency speculators were thriving on that uncertainty.
Supporters of a national bank argued that if the nation were to grow and to prosper, it needed a universally accepted standard coinage and this would best be provided by a United States Mint, aided and supported by a national bank and an excise tax. Detractors were suspicious of such a venture being controlled by the government, particularly the Federal Government.
In 1791, the original Bank of the United States, sometimes referred to as "The First Bank of the United States", was proposed and brought into being under the support of the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
Along with establishing a mint and an excise tax, the purpose of Hamilton's proposed bank was to:
The Bank of the United States(Wikipedia)
Alexander Hamilton on the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States
For a look at the areas of general agreement between Madison and Hamilton as well as some indications about where there were emerging differences it is useful to read Federalist #9 (written by Hamilton) and Federalist #10 (written by Madison).
The History of Central Banking in the United States (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States
A more comprehensive look at the history of centralized banking can be found in Edward Flaherty's web-based analysis of this process beginning with the formation of the first central bank and extending up to the first act creating the Federal Reserve in 1913.
Click here
Federal Reserve - History of Banking
The Debate
Opinions Against the Bank - based on Constitutionality: Jefferson
Hamilton's Opinion For the Bank on Constitutional issues
Hamilton vs Jefferson and Madison and the Bank of The United States
Following the Revolution there existed no formal banking system in the young Republic. In the last decade of the eighteenth century the United States had just three banks and more than fifty different currencies in circulation: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese coinage, local money issued by states, cities, and businesses. White the national currencies were more stable than the local ones and more broadly traded, overall the currency values were very unstable creating a climate where currency speculators were thriving on that uncertainty.
Supporters of a national bank argued that if the nation were to grow and to prosper, it needed a universally accepted standard coinage and this would best be provided by a United States Mint, aided and supported by a national bank and an excise tax. Detractors were suspicious of such a venture being controlled by the government, particularly the Federal Government.
In 1791, the original Bank of the United States, sometimes referred to as "The First Bank of the United States", was proposed and brought into being under the support of the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
Along with establishing a mint and an excise tax, the purpose of Hamilton's proposed bank was to:
- Establish financial order, clarity and precedence in and of the newly formed United States.
- Establish credit—both in country and overseas—for the new nation.
- To resolve the issue of the fiat currency, issued by the Continental Congress immediately prior to and during the United States Revolutionary War—the "Continental".
The Bank of the United States(Wikipedia)
Alexander Hamilton on the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States
For a look at the areas of general agreement between Madison and Hamilton as well as some indications about where there were emerging differences it is useful to read Federalist #9 (written by Hamilton) and Federalist #10 (written by Madison).
The History of Central Banking in the United States (Wikipedia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States
A more comprehensive look at the history of centralized banking can be found in Edward Flaherty's web-based analysis of this process beginning with the formation of the first central bank and extending up to the first act creating the Federal Reserve in 1913.
Click here
Federal Reserve - History of Banking
The Debate
Opinions Against the Bank - based on Constitutionality: Jefferson
Hamilton's Opinion For the Bank on Constitutional issues
Friday, June 18, 2010
Does Free Speech Have Limits?
Philosopher Tim Scanlon discusses the questions that surround the right of Free Speech.
Click here
Click here
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Niccolo Machievelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527)
Niccolo Machievelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) - whose very name is synonymous with diabolical intent. Is in fact one of the most influential forces in political thought of the millennium.
Machiavelli was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and a playwright, but foremost, he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. In June of 1498, after the ouster and execution of Girolamo Savonarola, the Great Council elected Machiavelli as Secretary to the second Chancery of the Republic of Florence.
A Renaissance Man, Machiavelli is most famous for a short political treatise, The Prince, written in 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after his death.
Listen to the Prince
Wikipedia Biography
A lecture series by Yale Professor Steven Smith
New Modes and Orders
New Modes and Orders 2
Lectures by Charles Anderson, Univeristy of Wisconsin - Madison
Rejecting the Medieval Synthesis Overview of Renaissance & Civic Humanism, Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and the Rise of Nationalism 50:30 Professor Charles W. Anderson
Machiavelli, The Prince 44:05 Professor Charles W. Anderson Political, Economic and Social Thought
Anderson on Machiavelli Part 2
Niccolo Machievelli - Partially Examined - Optional
If you become fascinated enough with NM, this optional podcast examines his ideas in both historical context as well as in relation to the modern world of Stalin and George W. Bush.
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