Tag Archive for ‘American Revolution’
“Tea Bagging” through History
A news report that a “Tea Party” convention planned for February shows signs of unraveling reminds me of another group of “tea baggers” from American History. They had also unraveled in late January. But the year was 1778. It began as a populist uprising against –surprise, surprise—the bankers and lawyers who were making the rules back then.
Don’t Know Much About Ben Franklin
Today is the birthday of America’s first international celebrity and most consistently interesting Founding Father. Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. With little formal education, he became a writer, printer, philanthropist, philosopher, political leader and scientist. Franklin, alongside Thomas Jefferson, was probably the best example of the American Enlightenment Man. And, [...]
Don’t Know Much About Benedict Arnold
Why is there a statue of Benedict Arnold’s boot? Years ago, I was asked that question on a radio call-in show and honestly did not know the answer. Nor was I even aware at the time there was such a statue. But there it is — part of the Saratoga National Park in Saratoga, New [...]
Of Columbus Day and Crosses
“It’s the — the cross is the — is the most common symbol of — of — of the resting place of the dead.” Those were the words of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia during a Supreme Court questioning session. The case involves a cross honoring veterans that has been placed on federal lands. The fuller [...]
Don’t Know Much About Emerson
It’s not often that a commencement speech to a class of six makes waves. But TODAY IN HISTORY, on July 15, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson managed that feat. In what is known as the “Divinity School Address” a commencement speech made to the Harvard Divinity School’s class of six, Emerson questioned Jesus’ divinity, discounted biblical [...]
A Revolting Reading List
Revere and his horse. Jefferson and his quill, Franklin and his kite. Washington and those false teeth. Okay. Most of us now know there was more to the American Revolution than these stock images. And the bestseller lists have been well-stocked over the past few years with books that plumb the “great men” of the [...]
