America
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European Town Graves Reveal Historical Clues
Two years following Christopher Columbus ‘s journey across the Atlantic in 1492, Columbus and colonists took off on a second trip. The result of their subsequent voyage was the foundation of the first established European town in the New World. It was given the name La Isabela. La Isabela had a short four year existence. The demise of the town has always been believed by historians to have been the result of the diseases smallpox, influenza, and malaria. However, recent findings from the town’s graves, from the bones that remained, also show that the colonist suffered as well from a condition known as scurvy. To be sure scurvy would have made the towns people vulnerable targets…
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Women of America: Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson and her family arrived in America on September 18, 1634 and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A controversial woman of religious fervor, she held meetings in her home for the women of Boston. She taught that salvation was through faith only and not dictated by church attendance or by the laws of the church. Her message was met with hostility and she stood trial in 1637. Anne Hutchinson was found guilty of heresy against the Puritan tenet and banished from Massachusetts. She, her family and 70 followers settled on the Island of Aquidneck, Rhode Island. In 1642, she moved to Pelham Bay, New York with her children, where in…
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Lady Liberty’s Modern Day Visitors
There have been throngs of eager visitors, since The Statue of Liberty’s reopening Thursday. Cleanup is complete from Hurricane Sandy’s torrential wrath on Liberty Island. Sandy inflicted destruction on nearby structures, thankfully sparing the Lady, America’s gift from France, representing our celebration of liberty in a country based on democracy. The Lady Liberty arrived in a dismantled 350 pieces to New York Harbor on June 17, 1885. Statue of Liberty arrives. (2013). The History Channel website. Retrieved 2:22, July 4, 2013, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/statue-of-liberty-arrives. Read the NY Times Article : Crowds Line Up to See Storm Survivor, Statue of Liberty
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Woody Guthrie’s Only Novel Published Posthumously
Though primarily a song writer and essayist, Oklahoma’s folk hero Woody Guthrie also managed to write a work of fiction about the historic Dust Bowl. The book “House of Earth” was released Febuary 5, 2013, decades after Woody’s death on October 3, 1967. According to Guthrie’s daughter, Nora Guthrie, “He always wrote to be heard.” The historian Douglas Brinkley and actor Johnny Depp are helping to make his wish “to be heard” an even greater reality than already seen through his songs and essays. Brinkley, while working on a biography of Bob Dylan, came across the unpublished novel in his research and made the decision to pursue bringing the work to life from…
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The History of Money
The objects of value that have served as forms of currency, have gone through considerable change over the past 10,000 years. We began with a barter system, where traded services and resources resulted in an agreed upon exchange of mutual advantage. In fact, individuals, organizations, and governments still prefer to use the barter system of exchange in some cases. In 9000 – 6000 B.C with agricultural based communities, cattle and other livestock (sheep, camels, etc.) are the first and oldest forms of money. The use of grain and other vegetable or plant products became standard forms of barter in many cultures. The first use of cowries, the shells of a…
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First Veterans Day Proclamation
On October 8th, 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation. It was on June 4, 1926, that Congress passed a resolution to observe the anniversary of the end of World War I, Nov. 11, 1918. In 1938, before the holiday was known as Veterans Day, Congress made Nov. 11 a legal holiday called Armistice Day.
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Veterans Affairs Goal of Updating IT Infrastructures
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs’, Eric. K. Shinseki, message for Veterans Day 2012 can be viewed on the VA website. In his message he talks about the VA “renewing our country’s historic covenant with its Veterans”. He spoke about how, with 21st century technology and a committed workforce, the VA is dedicated to making strides in its efficiency of providing benefits for those who have served in the armed forces. An article on the Rock Hill Herald Online states that Nelson Enterprise Technology Services (NETS), has been awarded a contract having a start day of Oct. 15, 2012. The NETS job is the modernization of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs large IT infrastructures. It is a huge undertaking in that the…
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History of VA Home Loan Program
On October 26, 2012 the 20 Millionth VA Home Loan was purchased by the spouse of an Iraq War Veteran who passed away in 2010. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) home loan program first got its start as part of the GI Bill of Rights in June of 1944. The GI Bill, officially named the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, was established to provide benefits for those returning home after serving in World War II. Besides the government backed, low interest home loans, the bill also served to provide veterans with college scholarships. The legislation was of such immense influence it is credited with helping to establish the American middle class. Source: VA Website ,…
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Second Term Presidents
There were 17 elected two term presidents: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, McKinley, Wilson, F. Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, Bush43, Obama There were four presidents who served two terms, but one term was not from election, but from serving after their deceased predecessors. After finishing out the term of other Presidents, they were then re-elected: Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and LBJ There were three presidents that were elected to a second term, but did not finish the second term: Lincoln and McKinley were assassinated Nixon resigned from office
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List of United States Presidents
18th Century 1. George Washington 2. John Adams 19th Century 3. Thomas Jefferson 4. James Madison 5. James Monroe 6. John Quincy Adams 7. Andrew Jackson 8. Martin Van Buren 9. William Henry Harrison 10. John Tyler 11. James K. Polk 12. Zachary Taylor 13. Millard Fillmore 14. Franklin Pierce 15. James Buchanan 16. Abraham Lincoln 17. Andrew Johnson 18. Ulysses S. Grant 19. Rutherford B. Hayes 20. James Garfield 21. Chester A. Arthur 22. Grover Cleveland 23. Benjamin Harrison 24. Grover Cleveland 25. William McKinley 20th Century 26. Theodore Roosevelt 27. William Howard Taft 28. Woodrow Wilson 29. Warren G. Harding 30. Calvin Coolidge 31. Herbert Hoover 32. Franklin…
