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Constitution Sunday: “Publius,” The Federalist LI [James Madison]
Independent Journal (New York) February 6, 1788 “But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections of human nature?” This rhetorical question, which James Madison posed, is one that governments throughout the world—throughout history—have answered by showing that even the best-intentioned government fails where it does not take human nature into account.
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The Civil War: Jefferson Davis: Message to the Confederate Congress
April 29, 1861 With only a few weeks at the helm of the Confederate government, president Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Congress had cause for concern—but also cause for inspiration. The whole of the South (and the whole of the North) was animated: men and women were mobilizing; making their preparations to contribute to the…
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The Civil War: Benjamin F. Butler to Winfield Scott
One night in late May 1861, “three negroes”—who said they were field hands, slaves—delivered themselves to the picket line at Fort Monroe in Virginia. Fort Monroe, sat on the peninsula between the York River and James River, had at its helm Brigadier General Benjamin F. Butler. The fugitive slaves had come to the fort to…
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The Civil War: William Howard Russell: from My Diary North and South
April 17, 1861 In the weeks and months leading up to the fall of Fort Sumter, the South had been brimming with excitement for the future. Charleston, South Carolina—with newly taken Fort Sumter in its harbor—was leading the South into that future both through its rhetoric and through its actions. Enthusiasm was abound for what…
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The Civil War: George Templeton Strong: Diary, April 13-16, 1861
Throughout the months leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter, there was widespread wonder about how the country would react to such a provocation; it was bound to be a cleave dividing the country and also its communities. Generations later—with the accordion of events neatly folded and the result of the war known—it would…
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The Decline of the Militia
From the War of 1812 on, for the next few decades, the use of militias would become less and less prominent in America.
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The Early Federal Government Surplus
Toward the end of President Andrew Jackson’s second term, the federal government had come to enjoy a substantial surplus, primarily coming as a result of land sales and “proceeds from the Tariff 0f 1833.” Daniel Walker Howe, What Hath God Wrought: Transformation of America, 1815-1848, 499.
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Constitution Sunday: “Publius,” The Federalist I [Alexander Hamilton]
“Publius,” The Federalist I [Alexander Hamilton] Independent Journal (New York), October 27, 1787 Following are excerpts from the Federalist I, written by Alexander Hamilton: “The subject speaks its own importance; comprehending in its consequences, nothing less than the existence of the union,
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The “Positive Good” of Slavery
John Calhoun, one of the staunchest supporters of states’ rights, was widely known for his view that slavery as a “positive good” in American society.
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A First Test for Separation of Church and State
With the communications and transportation revolution came new, unforeseeable consequences. One such consequence was the spread of cholera and other contagious diseases, which would test the mettle of Americans.
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Seeds of Division
In America, slavery was not always an issue that could be separated by the North and the South.
Last Best Hope of Earth 