America’s unique electoral college system was designed to be both democratic and anti-democratic. From the very beginning, it has often been manipulated. As a staunch advocate of taking the initiative in both military and political …
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Jefferson’s Road to the Declaration of Independence
In 1769, at the age of twenty-six, Thomas Jefferson was elected to the colonial Virginia legislature. He proposed but failed to get a bill passed to make it easier for owners to emancipate their slaves. …
Pennsylvania Attempts to De-certify Ratification of Constitution
Alert! Alert! An Attempt to De-Certify the Ratification of Constitution Pennsylvania, 2 January–29 March 1788 During the Revolutionary era, Pennsylvania was arguably the most politically divided state in the Union. This political divisiveness primarily centered …
The Star-Spangled Banner
June 14 is Flag Day. On that day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress resolved “that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, …
Signing Differential
The signing of America’s three organic documents of the Founding era have a superficial similarity but differ significantly from each other. The signers of the engrossed manuscripts of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of …
Political Writers and the Founders
Throughout the debate over the ratification of the Constitution and the drafting and adoption of the Bill of Rights, Americans often referred to political and legal writers and writings. A tabulation of these references in …
Engrossing the Constitution: Jacob Shallus
On Saturday afternoon, 15 September 1787, near the end of the Constitutional Convention, the delegates approved the final draft of the Constitution and ordered it engrossed on parchment to be ready for signing on Monday …
Paper Money: The Debtors’ Panacea or An Instrument of Fraud
The Constitutional Convention was called in 1787 to increase the powers of the Confederation Congress and to place restraints on the states. Article I, section 10 of the eventually proposed and ratified Constitution listed a …
Jefferson’s ‘Xerox’ Machines
Most of what we know about the private lives of the Founding generation of Americans comes from their correspondence. To many, letter-writing was an art that was cultivated by instruction and practice. Writing was expensive …
Metaphorically Speaking: Metaphors and Similes during the Debate over Ratifying the Constitution
Metaphors and similes can be powerful rhetorical devices. What are they? A metaphor compares two unlike objects or ideas and illuminates them in a word or phrase that otherwise might be expressed in many words. …