Remembering Chief Joseph
September 21 marks the anniversary of the death of Chief Joseph, one of the most famous Native-American chiefs during the period of our nation’s decades-long “Indian Wars” in the second half of...
Remembering Charles Crocker
“Robber Barons.” Americans have used this phrase for over a century to describe the late 19thand early 20th century men who were instrumental in the financing of America’s industrial and...
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: A Dark Stain on 19th Century American History
A decade before the start of the Civil War, America was in the midst of a major political crisis, triggered by the passage in 1850 of the “Fugitive Slave Act.” Intended to be part of...
Remembering John Alden
The story of the Mayflower has been a part of American lore for centuries, and each November, we honor the “First Thanksgiving” the Mayflower Pilgrims celebrated at Plymouth Colony in 1621...
250th Anniversary: The 1774 Boston Port Act Unleashes the Independence Movement in the American Colonies
Americans tend to think of our nation’s official break from its English oppressors as having taken place when the Declaration of Independence was passed by the Continental Congress in June 1776....
”The Nation’s Guest”: The 200th Anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s Tour of America, 1824-25
This month we commemorate one of the most heartfelt moments in American history, when Americans everywhere turned out to welcome the return to the United States of the Marquis de Lafayette, who had...
Remembering Crazy Horse
The history of the American West is, in many respects, a history of conquest, as American settlers in the 1800’s migrated west into the lands of various Native-American tribes. Following the...
Remembering William Clark
Last month we posted a story about Meriwether Lewis, the famed explorer who co-led the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-06. The other leader of that expedition was William Clark, who died on this...
The California Gold Rush: The 175th Anniversary Of The “49’ers,” And California’s First Constitutional Convention, September 1849
The story of the American West is a story of emigration—hundreds of thousands of pioneers heading West, originally to areas west of the Mississippi River, and later to areas west of the Rockies,...
August 1619: Commemorating the First Representative Government in North America at Jamestowne Colony
This month we commemorate the anniversary of the convening of the first General Assembly at the Jamestowne Colony in August 1619, an event that historians point to as the very first representative...
