I first raised the issue of the 1824 bicentennial in a blog from 2016: The Presidential Election of 1824: Lessons for Today September 9, 2016 I was writing about the annual SHEAR conference (Society for the Historians of the Early American Republic), July 21-24, 2016, in New Haven. The specific reason was a session on […]
State of American History, Civics, and Politics
Will College Students Allow a Hamas-Israel Agreement?
Many college campuses have been convulsed in protests over the Israeli-Hamas war. The exact number fluctuates as new ones emerge and the police and/or college administrators quell the peaceable political discourse by taking students and outside agitators hostage. Presumably if tried and convicted in federal court they will be pardoned. The mantras of the protestors […]
King David Did Not Have Immunity: “Thou art the man!”
The story of David and Nathan is one of the most dramatic in the Hebrew Bible. Even as one reads the words, one can see the figures in one’s mind. There is no mention of Nathan extending his arm in the direction of David, yet we see it. There is no mention of Nathan pointing […]
More Urgent American Revolution 250th Update: The Clock is Ticking
Even as colleges are in turmoil from coast to coast, the 250th anniversary of the birth of this country looms closer and closer. Whether or not we will be one country as we exist now remains a debatable question. Whether or not We the People will want to celebrate the birthday remains problematical … at […]
The American Revolution 250th Update
Can you feel the excitement mounting? We keep getting closer and closer to the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. The anticipation rises. What a glorious day that will be on July 4, 2026. If only we can get past the upcoming presidential election and have a country as we know it […]
John Eastman, Jack Smith, and Amendment 14 Section 3
The father of the fake electors had the riot act read to him by the legal system. He was found guilty, that is, a recommendation was made, that the author of the fake electors scheme be stripped of his law license. In a mere 128-pages, the judge ruled that Eastman had violated the rules of […]
Senate to Bar Insurrectionists under 14th Amendment Section 3
Beware the law of unintended consequences. One only has think of the developments since the Supreme Court nullified Roe v. Wade (The Law of Unintended Consequences: From Abortion to Voter Suppression, December 5, 2021). It is highly unlikely that the Supreme Court anticipated all the political ramifications which have occurred since its decision yet alone […]
A Failure to Communicate: Saying “At the top of the hour” in a Digital World
Why do newscasters still refer to the “top of the hour” and the “bottom of the hour” in a digital world? Do they think their audiences understand the literal meaning of those terms yet alone their symbolic importance like “above the fold” to people who do not read newspapers? Language lingers even as technology moves […]
Historians Tackle 14th Amendment Section 3 and Fail (3 of 3): Jill Lepore, David Blight, Drew Gilpin Faust, and John Fabian Witt
This blog addresses the third of the three historian briefs submitted to the Supreme Court in support of the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Donald Trump from running for President of the United States under Amendment 14 Section 3. JILL LEPORE Before turning to the brief itself, Jill Lepore, one of the […]
Historians Tackle 14th Amendment Section and Fail (2): Akhil Rees Amar and Vikram David Amar
Remember when the 14th Amendment Section 3 was all the rage? Everywhere you turned there was one talking head after another discussing this amendment and section and guessing what the Supreme Court would do. In my previous blog (Historians Tackle the 14th Amendment Section 3 and Fail: How Come?), I proposed that the Court would […]