History

The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties

The 1920s heralded a dramatic break between America’s past and future. Before World War I the country remained culturally and psychologically rooted in the nineteenth century, but in the 1920s America seemed to break its wistful attachments to the recent past and usher in a more modern era.

Lincoln’s Crackdown
Lincoln’s Crackdown

Lincoln’s Crackdown

Civil libertarians cried foul over the indefinite detention of hundreds of Sept. 11 suspects and plans to try accused terrorists in military tribunals. In defense, some Bush administration loyalists cite another wartime leader who locked up civilians and resorted to army courts, Abraham Lincoln—even though Lincoln faced a radically different situation, and, more importantly, his civil liberties record stands as a rare blot on his reputation.

Why Reconstruction Matters

The surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865 effectively ended the Civil War. Preoccupied with the challenges of our own time, most Americans probably devote little attention to the Reconstruction, the turbulent era that followed the conflict. This is unfortunate. If any historical period deserves the label “relevant,” it is Reconstruction.

Jamestown and Plymouth: Compare and Contrast
Jamestown and Plymouth: Compare and Contrast

Jamestown and Plymouth: Compare and Contrast

Traveling aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place they named Jamestown. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. With these two colonies, English settlement in North America was born.

A Short History of Jamestown
A Short History of Jamestown

A Short History of Jamestown

On December 6, 1606, the journey to Virginia began on three ships: the Susan Constant, theGodspeed, and the Discovery. In 1607, 104 English men and boys arrived in North America to start a settlement. On May 13 they picked Jamestown, Virginia for their settlement, which was named after their King, James I. The settlement became the first permanent English settlement in North America.