Description
May 9, 1831: A Frenchman Named de Tocquiville Arrives In America And Records His Insights On The Strengths And Challenges Of The New Nation.
You are there: On May 9, 1831, two young men involved with the French judicial system arrive in Newport, Rhode Island, after a 37 day long Atlantic crossing. One is Gustave de Beaumont, a 29 year old “King’s Prosecutor” in Paris. The other is his 25 year old friend, Alexis de Tocqueville, currently serving as […]
April 30, 1861: Napoleon Sells The Louisiana Territory To America.
You are there: As of 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte is de facto emperor of France and signaling his intent to wrest global hegemony from Great Britain. In the west his vision includes recapture of Saint Dominique (Haiti) from Toussaint’s black rebels, and perhaps even extending its 1801 seizure of New Orleans further into and the Louisiana […]
April 20, 1861: Robert E. Lee Resigns From The U.S. Army To Go With His Home State Of Virginia.
You are there: After the fall of Ft. Sumter, both President Lincoln and head of the U.S. Army Winfield Scott hope to convince Robert E. Lee to become Commander of the Union troops. Lee is 59 years old at the time and son of “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, a Major General of Dragoons during the Revolutionary […]
Why and where were the first shots of the US civil War fired?
There were some important events leading to the first shots of the US civil war. The American Civil War become inevitable once Abraham Lincoln is elected President in November 1860 with the promise of banning slavery across all of the southwestern land acquired in the Mexican War. This represents a mortal blow to the future […]
April 4, 1841: America’s First Whig President, William Henry Harrison. Dies After One Month In office
You are there: Thirty-one days after his inauguration President William Henry Harrison dies suddenly in the White House at age sixty-eight, thereby causing a constitutional dilemma on succession and a policy crisis for the Whig Party. Despite his campaign profile as a “log cabin and hard cider man of the west,” Harrison actually grows up […]
Prince Hall and The First African Freemason Lodge In Boston 1776.
Prince Hall’s founding of a Freemason Lodge for Africans in the city of Boston is an early milestone in the uphill battle of Blacks to achieve social respect and acceptance. Who was Prince Hall? Facts about the early life of Prince Hall are sketchy, but he is thought to have been born in Barbados in […]
Mr. Wilson Chinn, and the Power of Photography
This iconic photograph of Mr. Wilson Chinn shows him displaying a range of the “torture instruments” he experienced during his years as a slave. Across his forehead are the initials “VBM,” branded there by his last master. Around his neck is a metal collar designed to infringe on his ability to rest his head. A […]
March 17, 1775: The Cannons of Ft. Ticonderoga Cause the British to Abandon the City of Boston.
Britain is rocked by its losses on April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord to the rag tag American minutemen and they retreat to the safety of their fortifications around Boston Harbor. When word of the defeat reaches King George III, he sends three top generals led by Lord William Howe to strike the enemy. […]
Congress approves the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago ending Mexican War
Five months after the U.S. army under General Winfield Scott occupies Mexico City, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ending the war is approved by the Senate. The fighting itself has lasted for sixteen months from the opening clash along the disputed Rio Grande border at Matamoros until the final assault on the Chapultepec Castle […]
March 5, 1845: Mexican Forces Massacre Defenders At The Alamo
In 1836 Mexican President Lopez de Santa Anna decides the time has come to take back territory in the state of Coahuila y Tejas then occupied by Americans who cast themselves as “Texians.” His campaign begins with a brutal massacre of some 285 of their settlers garrisoned at the Alamo Mission in the town of […]