PODCAST: HISTORY UNPLUGGED
J. Edgar Hoover’s 50-Year Career of Blackmail, Entrapment, and Taking Down Communist Spies
If anyone could be more Jeffersonian than Jefferson himself, it would probably be John Taylor of Caroline. Jefferson is the recognized champion of states’ rights, individual liberty, and the agrarian tradition, but in contrast to Taylor’s five published books, a handful of pamphlets, and a number of newspaper articles, Jefferson…
Thomas Jefferson once described Roger Sherman as “a man who never said a foolish thing in his life.” John Adams said he was “an old Puritan, as honest as an angel and as firm in the cause of American Independence as Mount Atlas.” Such lofty praise from two of the…
Charles Carroll of Carrollton has one of the more interesting stories of the Founding generation. He was one of the wealthiest men in the colonies in the eighteenth century, and like other members of the Southern gentry, he lived the life of a European aristocrat. But Carroll was Catholic, and…
With the exception of James Madison, Elbridge Gerry is quite possibly the most complex character of the Founding generation. He was an important contributor to both the fervor leading to the Revolution and the Anti-Federalist crusade against the ratification of the Constitution in 1788. He served as governor of Massachusetts,…
John Dickinson, the “conservative revolutionary” as one biographer called him, is one of the most unjustly neglected figures of the Founding generation. Dickinson played a role in every significant event of his time, from the Stamp Act Congress in 1765 through the Constitutional Convention in 1787. For nearly forty years,…
“The people made the Constitution, and the people can unmake it. It is the creature of their own will, and lives only by their will.” Those are the words of Chief Justice John Marshall in his 1821 Supreme Court ruling of Cohens v. Virginia. It declared that the Supreme Court…
If a list were constructed of the most important Virginians in American history, George Mason would appear near the top. His influence on public policy, the Revolution, and the Constitution was far greater than his modern, meager reputation allows. He was a giant of his time. His close friendships with…
Students often ask if Founding Father George Clinton of New York is any relation to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Both are “from” New York, and to students who have little understanding of even contemporary events, this is an obvious question. This answer, of course, is no, but it illustrates how…
You won’t find much information about Francis Marion in American history textbooks today. Marion did not serve in the Continental Congress or the Constitutional Convention, and he never held a position in the federal government. Yet, without him, the American War for Independence may have taken a decidedly different direction.…
Robert E. Lee is the most conspicuous family member of the Lee family, but several Lees served Virginia and the American military with distinction before, during, and after the War for Independence, including Robert E. Lee’s father, Richard Henry Lee, also known as “Light Horse Harry” Lee. Richard Henry Lee…
