So it may be said, with undoubted truth, that the whiskey drinkers made Mr. Jefferson the President of the United States.
Slaveholding states wondered how their human property would be counted for congressional-apportionment purposes. Northern states finally agreed that five slaves would be counted as equivalent to three...
Since Ulysses S. Grant’s spelling could border on the eccentric, I have taken the liberty of correcting that and his punctuation and capitalization throughout the book for the sake of smoother reading...
Since Hamilton’s abiding literary sin was prolixity, the time and length constraints imposed by The Federalist may have given a salutary concision to his writing. For
Shiloh, but it sorely disappointed the Century editors. Written in Grant’s pithy style, it was arid and compact and read like a bloodless report. Johnson hurried over to Long Branch for a pep talk wit...
Sheridan had a pugnacity that refused to quit, and Sherman described him as a persevering terrier dog, honest, modest, plucky and smart enough.78 Quite unlike Grant,
Sensing an abandonment of Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass wondered what good abolition had been for the black man if having been freed from the slaveholder’s lash, he is to be subject to the slaveh...
Self-sufficiency and a contempt of the science and experience of others are too prevailing traits of character in this country, he wailed to John Jay.
Rockefeller was sensitive about adults who behaved in a high-handed fashion toward him. Having assumed so much responsibility at home, he now thought of himself as a mature person.
Republican ire about the Federalist dominance of the judiciary became especially strident after Adams nominated John Marshall as chief justice of the Supreme Court in late January 1801.
Regarding the uprising as a direct threat to constitutional order, Washington asked Supreme Court Justice James Wilson to declare a state of anarchy around Pittsburgh.
Public infamy must restrain what the laws cannot.
Prejudice and private interest will be antagonists too powerful for public spirit and public good. 69
Predictably, northern military units predominated, but the presence of Confederate soldiers touched onlookers. It was quite a sight to see the Stonewall Brigade [march] up Fifth Avenue with their drum...
Poison-pen artists on both sides wrote vitriolic essays that were overtly partisan, often paid scant heed to accuracy, and sought a visceral impact. The
Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation,
Perhaps most problematic was the controversial bargain that Alexander Hamilton had struck with the Constitution, dedicating his life to what he deemed a flawed document.
On the morning of March 4, in an extraordinary sequence of events, the House approved the bill right before the noon deadline. Senators had already adjourned to the Capitol for the inauguration. They...
On September 17, 1787, after almost four months of hard-fought battles, the convention ended when thirty-nine delegates from twelve states signed the Constitution
On June 20, at Johnson’s behest, Attorney General James Speed ordered the U.S. attorney in Norfolk to abandon Lee’s prosecution. On the same day, Grant informed Lee that no further actions would be ta...