Tag Archive for ‘Independence Day’
A Very Dignified Slave Owner
Writing on the op-ed pages of the New York Times on July 7, 2009, David Brooks clearly touched a nerve. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/opinion/07brooks.html
His column, entitled “In Search of Dignity,” topped the Times list of most emailed articles and drew hundreds on online comments, many of them laudatory. Brooks used the column to celebrate the good manners, civility [...]
Jefferson, Slavery and Nazis in Paris
Last evening, I had a thrilling experience. In a small, darkened room with the feel of a chapel inside the magnificent New York Public Library, I saw Thomas Jefferson’s handwritten copy of his original draft of the Declaration of Independence. For me this was a “Grail Moment.” Setting aside all of Jefferson’s contradictions and human [...]
Independence Week: The Most Important Signer You Never Heard of
In the third installment of my Independence Week Refresher Course, I focus on a man who most of us never heard of. But the United States of America exists, in part, because of his efforts.
Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, a few names are familiar. Most Americans, if pressed, can probably [...]
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 [...]
