After the death of Lincoln, Congress reasserted itself as top-dog and passed the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. In this amendment citizenship was defined as anyone born in the U.S. who is not subject to another jurisdiction. It imposed penalties on any state that denied citizens voting rights. Finally, it prohibited former Confederate leaders from … Continue reading Class Notes →

With the death of Lincoln, Andrew Johnson took over the presidency at a time when the government was trying to establish a reconstruction policy.  Lincoln and Congress had been debating different approaches to allowing the southern states full membership. Johnson, however, brought his own ideas to the argument. Everyone expected he would be hard on … Continue reading Class Notes →

One of the key differences between the north and south before the Civil War was religion. An easy way to see this is that the North believed they were saved by works. As such, northerners needed to spread their beliefs and wanted to perfect society to bring on the Second Coming. The south, however, believed … Continue reading Class Notes →

What confuses many today is that when the Republican Party was formed in 1854, it was the liberal party, while the Democrats were the conservatives. While today the parties have switched ideology, in both major parties there are divisions in the party as some are moderate, while others more radical in their liberalism or conservativism. … Continue reading Class Notes →

One of my favorite stops during my time in Europe was at the American cemetery in Luxemburg. The cemetery was for fallen soldiers who fought in one of the toughest conflicts of the war, later known as the Battle of the Bulge. American troops became surrounded and were outnumbered and out supplied. It was fought … Continue reading Historical Travels-Why We are Free →

The most surprising destination and the last of my trip was the city of Prague. Our tour was called “Cities of Light” and was book ended by Paris and Prague. I sort of knew what to expect in Paris, even though everything exceeded my expectations, but I had no idea what to expect of Prague … Continue reading Historical Travel-Prague →

Friday morning, we packed up and left the boat for good as we took buses to the city of Prague. However, along the way we stopped at the city of Nuremberg. The city is as old as the other cities we visited, first mentioned in records in 1050. However, I have already spoken in length … Continue reading Historic Travel-The Dark Days →

On Thursday we docked at Bamberg but even though it was an important medieval city and at one point capital of the Holy Roman Empire, we did not spend any time in the city. Instead, we were put on buses and driven out to the German countryside and stopped at the city of Zeil am … Continue reading Historic Travels →

Wednesday morning we woke up in the town of Wurzburg. As with most towns along the Main it started as a Roman town that grew and later came under the control of the Holy Roman Empire. Later the Swedes invaded and held the city for a while before it came under control of Bavaria. In … Continue reading Historic Travel- Medieval Times on the Main →

One Tuesday our ship changed course once again this time turning up the Main River heading into the Bavarian region. I was now expecting to see everyone in lederhosen and drinking beer out of steins, but once again I was surprised. The people of the Main River do not consider themselves Bavarians, but Franconians. They … Continue reading Historical Travel-The Rhine Continued →