Fisher Ames

The First Doomsayers

Many expected that the American Revolution would lead to some “bloody noses” as “almost all revolutions are founded in blood.” Samuel A. Otis to Theodore Sedgwick, July 30, 1782, Theodore Sedgwick Papers, A. 55, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. The British had made predictions that separating from Britain would lead to quarrels and the Americans splitting […]

More

The Louisiana Controversy

The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 added approximately 823,000 square miles to the United States’ territory. At that time, Thomas Jefferson favored the purchase, as it protected America from the threat of France or Britain invading the United States, particularly through New Orleans. Gordon Wood, Empire of Liberty, 369. The acquisition also would force the territory of […]

More