Juneteenth

With the creation this week of Juneteenth as a national holiday, I have seen several posts that, though meaning well in celebrating the day, have made mistakes about the history. Even my own college wrote that because the slaves in Texas had not heard about the Emancipation Proclamation, they were not free until federal troops … Continue reading Juneteenth →

Class Notes

One of John Adam’s greatest achievements was not taking the nation to war with France when the rest of his party, especially Hamilton, wanted war. He was able to avoid all-out war, but our nation’s first international conflict was what we call the Quasi-War from France. This was contained to a naval war where American … Continue reading Class Notes →

Class Notes

One positive aspect of the Founding Fathers was their unselfishness. A good example of this is how the first Congress created provisions to allow for new states to enter the Union. There is nothing in the Constitution that said they had to allow new states and if they did, they could have made them with … Continue reading Class Notes →

Class Notes

One of the biggest issues facing the new government when Washington took over was our debt. We owed a total of 83 million in their time, a larger debt to income ration than we have today. To solve this major issue, he turned to his young prodigy, Alexander Hamilton. In 1790-1791, Hamilton issued three reports … Continue reading Class Notes →

Divided Parties

Just when you thought our political leaders could not divide us any further, they have now turned on themselves. Right now, both parties are dealing with internal conflicts. The Democrats are struggling between the so called “progressives” (I still believe they are not using that term correctly) and the "moderates." One recent difference is between … Continue reading Divided Parties →

Class Notes

As soon as the Constitution was finished the nation split into two camps, the Federalists who wanted to accept the Constitution and the Anti-Federalists who did not. Generally speaking, the Federalists were the wealthy and educated. Their interests were better served by a strong government and now they needed more to hold the nation together. … Continue reading Class Notes →

Class Notes

Class Notes is back as I am starting my summer semester. This summer I will be teaching U.S. History from the creation of the Constitution to the Civil War. Probably the biggest argument in the 19th Century and in some ways today is over the “Necessary and Proper” clause or sometimes called the elastic clause … Continue reading Class Notes →