Jefferson’s Appropriate Thoughts on Current Affairs

“Wretched indeed is the nation in whose affairs foreign powers are once permitted to intermeddle!”, Thomas Jefferson to B. Vaughan, 1787.

Jefferson on Impeachment

Jefferson believed that the legislative authority had the sole responsibility of judging matters of impeachment.       High crimes and misdemeanors were subjective terms not necessarily synonymous with actual crimes. “There is another opinion entertained by some men of such judgment and information as to lessen my confidence in my own. That is, that the Legislature

John Randolph of Roanoke and His Satanic Majesty

Originally posted on Almost Chosen People:
? ? In the winter of 1831-1832, John Randolph of Roanoke, a brilliant orator and statesman often suspected of being more than a little mad, wrote the following letter: To the Honorable Waller Holladay, Esquire, of the county of Spotsylvania, of the State of Virginia, of the United States…

Hodgenville: The First Lincoln Memorial

Originally posted on Presidential History Blog:
More than a decade before the magnificent temple dedicated to the memory of the 16th President was built in Washington, DC… The Birth Place…ish … a fine new-classical Greek temple was designed, built and dedicated to house the birthplace and legacy of Abraham Lincoln. It was located in remote…

Hamilton Predicted Trump’s Rise

Alexander Hamilton predicted the rise of a President like Donald Trump-  He describes Trump perfectly when warning his countrymen about he dangers of Aaron Burr. “The expectation, I know, is, that if Mr. _____ shall owe his elevation to the (Republican) party he will judge it his interest to adhere to that party… and that

Madison on Impeachment

Madison’s Constitutional Convention notes offer us clarity in our current discussions on impeachment. A President does not need to commit an indictable crime to be impeached Failing to properly discharge the duties of the Office was enough to impeach Madison recorded in his Convention notes-   “Mr. MADISON thought it indispensable that some provision should

On Impeachment

Should the current Chief Executive be worried? Supporters of corrupt Presidents, from Andrew Johnson to Bill Clinton… all use the same erroneous argument about the Impeachment provision of the Constitution.  “But he didn’t commit a high crime!”      If only our Framers had specific indictable crimes in mind when they included… the all important Impeachment

“Violet Lightning” and “Mighty Wind” – Japanese Late War Fighters

Originally posted on Pacific Paratrooper:
N1K Shiden Two planes fielded by the Japanese late in WWII, the Kawanishi N1K1-J and N1K2-J fighters, became popular with the Japanese military, despite having an unusual development history. In the history of aircraft design, it hasn’t been that unusual for land-based planes to be converted into seaplanes. It’s a…

Jefferson on Education

“We shall have our follies without doubt. Some one or more of them will always be afloat. But ours will be the follies of enthusiasm, not of bigotry … bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education & free discussion are the antidotes of both. We are

Book Review- “Most Blessed of Patriarchs”

Peter Onuf, Annette Gordon-Reed, Most Blessed of Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of Imagination, New York, Norton & Co., 2016  ISBN-13: 978-0871404428   Two intellectuals dabble in history to satisfy their personal desires which radically alter the public’s view of history to advance present day human rights.    Professor Peter Onuf occupied the position