The first U.S. warship to make a trip around the world was the sloop-of-war Vincennes in 1829-31, during the administration of President Andrew Jackson.
Jackson used the show of force to protect American commerce in the Pacific.
The Truce of God was an attempt by the Roman Catholic Church in 1041 to limit war. In this decree, the Church proposed that no country do battle between Lent and Advent, as well as from the Thursday to the next Monday of important festivals. Although the Lateran Council approved the truce in 1179 and…
It was not John F. Kennedy’s but Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration that first launched plans for the overthrow of Fidel Castro, the Communist leader of Cuba, by an armed invasion of Cuban exiles. This plan was known as the Bay of Pigs invasion. Kennedy, who came to office in January 1961, allowed the plan to…
The importation of slaves was outlawed in the U.S. on January 1, 1808, nearly six decades before the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery in 1865. However, it is estimated that 54,000 additional slaves were brought illegally to the U.S. between 1808 and the Civil War.
There have been four Madison Square Gardens, but only the first two were on Madison Square, at Madison Avenue and East Twenty-sixth Street. The first arena, originally a railroad depot, was given the name Madison Square Garden in 1879. The second was designed by Stanford White and built in 1890. The third, located between Forty-ninth…
The title of the 1962 book by Michael Harrington refers to the huge number of Americans at the time who were living below the poverty level. According to Harrington, the poor totaled 20-25 percent of the U.S. population, or about 40-50 million people.
It happened in 1913 by way of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.