Every time I watch a documentary about the Apollo Moon missions or catch a story on The Discovery Channel about interplanetary space travel, my mind flashes back to the bar scene in the movie Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd Christmas (played by Jim Carrey) announces to surprised (and somewhat amused) on-lookers that we had just [...]
Archive for the ‘Early nineteenth century (1810-1850)’ Category
The Sun Lies About the Moon
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1835, Dr. Andrew Grant, New York Sun, Sir John Herschel, The Great Moon Hoax on August 25 | Leave a Comment »
4th President Rings the Bell for Round 2
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1812, President James Madison, War of 1812 on June 1 | Leave a Comment »
When the Colonies ended their war with the British in 1781 (and signed the treaty in 1783), they probably looked at their new-found freedom with little inkling that, just 30 years down the road, they’d be on the brink of open conflict with the British yet again. But as May of 1812 gave way to June, [...]
Midwest Quakes Deemed Missouri’s Fault
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1812, Earthquake, Missouri, New Madrid, New Madrid Seismic Zone on February 7 | Leave a Comment »
When we think of earthquakes, we tend to think of specific places like San Francisco or Alaska, where major quakes have occurred. We probably also think of places like Indonesia and Bande Aceh, where an underwater earthquake and subsequent landslide caused the immense tsunami on December 26, 2004. Others of us may think in more general terms, like the Ring [...]
In the Middle of Everything
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1846, Iowa, John Wayne, President Herbert Hoover, Shawn Johnson on December 28 | Leave a Comment »
On December 28, 1846, Iowa was admitted to the Union as its 29th state. And having lived here all my life, I think I can speak with some degree of knowledge about it.
Iowa is decidedly average, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With roughly 3 million people, it ranks 30th in population. It’s 26th in [...]
“It is a Great Day. It is a Good Day.”
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1826, Declaration of Independence, President John Adams, President Thomas Jefferson on July 4 | Leave a Comment »
Those were the words of John Adams on the last day of his life. It was great and it was good because it was July 4, 1826. The United States was celebrating its 50th anniversary and Adams, as one of the two remaining signers of the Declaration of Independence still living, could look back and [...]
Patience, Grasshopper…
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged Mexican War, siege, Winfield Scott on March 29 | 1 Comment »
Other than perhaps a blockade, the siege seems like the most boring of all military maneuvers. It’s very effective, of course, and it means a low number of casualties for the siege-er. But it’s slow and dull – unless you happen to be the one being sieged, I guess.
Needing to establish a base in order [...]
Not So Sure About Censures…
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged Andrew Jackson, censure on March 28 | Leave a Comment »
Andrew Jackson hated the very idea of a national bank. Of this there is no doubt. He called the Bank of the United States ”a monster” and said that it “corrupted” and “threatened” our liberty. He instructed the Treasury Secretary to withdraw the country’s deposits from the bank in order to cripple it. And then when that [...]
Happy 247th!
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged James Madison, War of 1812 on March 16 | 2 Comments »
Birthday wishes go out to James Madison, our 4th president, who would turn a ripe, old 247 today - if he had made it this long.
Despite his impressive resume (principal author of both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and Commander-in-Chief during the country’s 2nd American Revolution), he’s not thought of that highly by historians.
He had the misfortune of being [...]
A Conflicting Compromise
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged abolitionist, missouri compromise, monroe, slavery on March 6 | Leave a Comment »
On March 6th, 1820 President James Monroe ratified the Missouri Compromise, effectively allowing Missouri into the Union as a slave state, and admitting Maine as a free state. The Missouri Compromise also served to bar slavery both North and West of Missouri. The belief was that the Compromise could calm the factions of pro-slavery and [...]
“God and Texas! Victory or Death!”
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), tagged Alamo, Texas on March 6 | 2 Comments »
I was going to take a day off from blogging, but after living in Texas for four years (Pony Up, y’all!), I can’t not remember the Alamo. It was on March 6, 1836, that the final assault took place – just days after Texas declared its independence from Mexico - and 189 defenders were overrun and [...]
