Prologue: Pieces of History

One hundred and ninety-six years ago today, the British sacked the District of Columbia. They were, in turn, sacked by a tornado. In 1814, the British wanted revenge. U.S. troops had burned the legislative building,  government structures, and private warehouses in the Battle of York (modern-day Toronto), and the Brits were inclined to teach their [...]

For the thousands of immigrants from Europe, the entrance to America was through Ellis Island. As they sailed by New York City, they could see the Statue of Liberty standing in the harbor like a watchful guardian. For immigrants from China and the Pacific Rim, another type of guardian awaited them in San Francisco Bay. They would [...]

These might look like two gentlemen out for a stroll in the early twentieth century, but the well-bearded gentlemen on the right is William Duncan, founder of  Metlakahtla, a Utopian community. The man on the left with the mustache is Sir Henry S. Wellcome, who founded the pharmaceutical company Burroughs Wellcome & Company, which later became [...]

Eve Warner takes the cake as the caption contest conquistador this week. Those of us in the Washington, DC, area who have experienced a spate of power outages over the month can certainly sympathize with the defrosting deluge that occurs when it comes time to clean the cold box. The actual caption is much more [...]

While the Constitution does not say who is eligible to vote, it does say who is eligible to run for Congress. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be [...]