Don’t Know Much About History — The Forgotten Presidents

In celebration of Presidents’ Day, here’s a quiz of sorts: If the colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776, but George Washington did not become President until 1789, who governed the colonies in the interim? Many readers may know that the Articles of Confederation preceded our American Constitution, but the Articles weren’t even ratified… more

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A Republic If You Can Keep It

The story goes that Benjamin Franklin was approached by a woman as he left the Constitutional Convention (1, 2). She asked, “What have you given us?” Franklin is said to have replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” This exchange was common knowledge 50 years or so ago, as commonly taught to schoolchildren as [...]

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Whose Side ARE the Founders On? Easy.

By Shelli Dawdy This is the third and final in a series examining an article in the Lincoln Journal Star on July 4 entitled “Whose side are the Founding Fathers on?” Just click one of the titles to read the first part: “The Founding? Move Along Folks, Nothing to See There. Onward Progress!” or second part: [...]

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Efforts to Muddle History of the Founding Don’t Change Its Facts

By Shelli Dawdy This is the second of  a three part piece examining an article in the Lincoln Journal Star on July 4 entitled “Whose side are the Founding Fathers on?” Just click the title to read the first part: “The Founding? Move Along Folks, Nothing to See There. Onward Progress!“ There is a related piece in [...]

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The Founding? Move Along Folks NOTHING To See There. Onward Progress!

By Shelli Dawdy This is part one of a two part piece. The Lincoln Journal Star featured a piece in their Independence Day edition entitled “Whose Side Are the Founding Fathers On?” The piece was written with a bottom-line message: there’s no clear answer. It’ll be a topic of perpetual debate. According to the article, the Founders [...]

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