September 1787

The Constitutional Convention was coming to a close. The Convention had been meeting five or six days a week for months and the Constitution was finally completed.

The delegates were preparing to vote on whether to approve the completed document. Most of the men at the Convention supported ratification.

But there were others who remained adamantly against ratification. They became known as Anti-Federalists. The Anti-Federalists included Patrick Henry, Virginia Governor Edmund Randolph, George Mason, future US president James Monroe, New York Governor George Clinton, and others.

The Antebellum South, the horrible years of the Civil War, and the ugliness of Reconstruction are long in our past but still have an impact on us. These six novels portray these years with startling accuracy. As I reread this post I realized how often I use the words brutal, horrifying, and ugly. I am sorry about this. Maybe I need to learn some new words but these are so appropriate, I did not change them.

Over the years I have read extensively about the Civil War and the years preceding and immediately following it, both fictional and historical accounts…

“There is a popular story telling how one day in 1852, the Bengali chief computer of the Survey of India rushed into the office of his superior, Sir Andrew Waugh, shouting, ‘Sir! Sir! I’ve discovered the highest mountain in the world!’”

The elevation of the summit had been triangulated from different points and averaged at a height of 29,002 feet. The elevation has been repeatedly adjusted over the years and is now calculated at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters).

Up until this point the peak had been known as Peak XV, but after identifying it as the highest point on Earth…

Cheasty and Kennedy

John Cye Cheasty calmly walked into the Washington DC office of Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy had recently been appointed chief counsel of the Senate’s newly formed McClellan Committee (formally called the United States Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management).

Cheasty was an attorney and investigator from New York City when he sat down to talk with Kennedy that day in February 1957. …

If it's not already obvious, I will tell you my stance on this right up front.

Banning books is wrong. We live in a world wherein we argue, fight, demonstrate, picket, and even, unfortunately, riot regarding our rights or the infringement upon those rights.

Shouldn’t it be up to each person, family, group, religion, or whatever to make decisions regarding what is read?

My Rights — Guaranteed

The United States, where I live, is governed by the oldest constitution active in the world. The US Constitution took effect in 1789. The Bill of Rights, which is made up of Constitutional amendments one through ten…

The Copperheads

There is an aspect of the Civil War that historians seem to neglect or ignore. We tend to think of the North and the South cleanly divided along sectional and political lines.

But we forget that there were many in the North who hated President Abraham Lincoln (R-Illinois) and all that he stood for. They accused him of lacking integrity and honesty, and of being a warmonger.

A new political group arose in the North around 1860. They were Democrats and became known as the “Peace Democrats,” or, more commonly, the “Copperheads.” The name was an insult made by supporters…

Uncle Joe Cannon

I have been reading a fascinating book. Uncle Joe Cannon — The Story of a Pioneer American. The book appears to be out of print as I had to special order a copy through my local used bookseller and it came from one of those printers who print old books. They had to print me a copy.

Joseph G. Cannon was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Illinois for decades and House Speaker from 1903–1911. I was intrigued when I read the following from a speech given years ago by David McCullough…

My grandmother was born in 1897 and reared in a small farming town in Idaho. She was the second of ten children. Her mother immigrated from Denmark with her parents as a young girl. Her father immigrated from Germany as a stowaway on his uncle’s ship after he went AWOL after striking his superior officer in the army.

Theirs was a poor but loving home. She and her older brother would get up before the sun and take care of the animals, feeding and milking cows, feeding calves and pigs, and watering horses, all from a deep well. …