Senator Daniel Webster Famously Supported the ‘Great Compromise’ Which Destroyed His Political Career

Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was "an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore." Was he a hero or a villain? His former friends and supporters in NH and MA came to view him as a villain, many of them abolitionists, because he …

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Ended US War With Mexico, Brought New Lands into the Union, and Set Nation on Path to Civil War

In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, "officially titled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic," brought an official end to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). It also gave advocates of slavery a new opportunity to spread the practice into new areas, and alter the …

US Does Not Currently Face Any Issue As Difficult As Slavery, Columnist Asserts

There is little similarity between the civil conflicts of the 2020s and the run-up to the civil war between 1820 and 1860, Jamelle Bouie argued in the NYT, "Why We Are Not Facing the Prospect of Civil War." on February 15, 2022. "White Americans had been divided over slavery for 50 years before the crisis …

‘Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of An American Myth’

Americans learned the Texas origin story all wrong, according to three Texas authors who say that defending slavery was a primary motivation of the revolutionaries. "Remember the Alamo? According to Texas lore, it's the site in San Antonio where, in 1836, about 180 Texan rebels died defending the state during Texas' war for independence from …

John Wayne’s 1960 Movie, ‘The Alamo’, Was Propaganda At Its Worst

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYtguIsp2B8 In the 1950s and early 1960s, American mass media was full of mythology about how the West was won, the heroics and the glories of life as a cowboy, as I've written before. One of the worst examples of propaganda was actor John Wayne's popular movie, "The Alamo." Not only does the film do …

Opium Wars Between China, Britain and France, 1839-1860

The first Opium War (1839–42) was fought between China and Britain, and the second Opium War (1856–60), also known as the Arrow War or the Anglo-French War in China, was fought by Britain and France against China. More. Documentaries from the History of China channel on Youtube, based in the UK, offer details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ0q0-jBfik History of China: "As a thousand year old civilization, …

‘Why 1850 Doesn’t Feel So Very Far Away’

"Congress has been here before, and it wasn't pretty," writes Joanne B. Freeman, PhD, in the NYT. She is a professor of history and American studies at Yale, and author of “The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War.” Dr. Freeman has spent her career as a historian analyzing political …

States’ Rights Vs. Federal Rights: Factors in Trump-Biden Election Certification, Nullification Crisis of 1832 and in Civil War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfQf208o3eI It's ironic that the current dispute over election fraud centers on "conservatives" or Trump supporters who claimed that the federal Congress could nullify election results that have been certified by the states. Eight Republican senators and 139 House members voted for this position on the early morning of Jan. 7, 2021. They wanted Congress …

How Andrew Jackson Reinvented the Presidency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7OiNxkifX8 AndrewJacksonPBS: "A biography of America's 7th president, ANDREW JACKSON: GOOD, EVIL AND THE PRESIDENCYexplores whether Andrew Jackson is a president Americans should celebrate or apologize for. We discover how Jackson fought in the Revolutionary War when he was just thirteen -- then used what he learned to kill a man over a gambling debt; …

John C. Calhoun, Vice President for Opposing Presidents and Powerful Advocate of State’s Rights, Slavery

John C. Calhoun (1782-1850) of South Carolina was a master politician on the national stage for 40 years, serving as vice president to bitter enemies --President John Quincy Adams, from 1825 to 1829 -- and to President Andrew Jackson from 1829 to 1833. He started out his political career in 1810 as a member of …