A Spotlight on a Primary Source by George III

King George III

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government, without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency. Further, those accused of violating the Stamp Act could be prosecuted in Vice-Admiralty Courts, which had no juries and could be held anywhere in the British Empire. Continue reading →

Every four years, we are reminded that the president of the United States must be a “natural born citizen.” But what does this even mean? Does it apply to everyone born in America, and is there a difference between a “native born” (one naturalized at birth by statute) and a “natural born” (one who does not require any naturalization) citizen?

That’s the thing: It’s never really been decided who is and is not a natural born citizen of the United States. In fact, there’s not even universal agreement that anyone born within the borders of the United States is a natural born citizen. Unsurprisingly, there is an ideological divide in the United States between those who believe anyone born here is a citizen and those who disagree. Continue reading →

On March 19, 1828, John Quincy Adams signed legislation that would come to be known as the Tariff of Abominations. The law was one of the early dominoes that fell and eventually pushed our nation toward Civil War.

Watercolor of the U.S. Capitol (1828), by John Rubens Smith

The legislation came at the end of Adams’s single term in office. He’d been elected in somewhat unusual circumstances. The Electoral College vote did not produce a majority winner; thus, the election was pushed into a secondary procedure known as the House contingent election. Adams was selected by congressmen! His opponent, Andrew Jackson, was livid. Continue reading →

Relates to the Affairs Between the The Confederate and United States

Wait, but doesn’t the righteous cause myth say the war was somehow “about slavery!” Doesn’t the righteous cause myth say the tariff had nothing to do with secession and war??? Doesn’t the righteous cause myth state that all this talk about tariff concerns were just a post war embellishment to cover up slavery as the cause of secession???

The Confederate Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding the cause of secession: “The tariff alone, would have been ample cause for a separation of the Southern from the Northern.” This speech was presented at Montgomery, Alabama on May 1, 1861. ~ Rod B. O’Barr
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When we think about racial inequality, do we blame everyone in the country, or do we research the truth?

The Democratic Party enjoys votes from the black community, the very people it tried to keep enslaved for most all of its entire history. Opposition to school choice by Democrats has kept blacks in failing schools.

Over the past few years Americans have been hearing about possibly having to pay for slavery reparations to the descendants of slaves that have long since passed. Recently to the tune of 6.2 quadrillion dollars. This article will show why said reparations will be widely voted against. Continue reading →

The Confederacy has been the excuse for some of today’s rioting, property destruction and grossly uninformed statements. Among the latter is the testimony before the House Armed Services Committee by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in favor of renaming Confederate-named military bases. He said: “The Confederacy, the American Civil War, was fought, and it was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason, at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution.”

There are a few facts about our founding that should be acknowledged. Let’s start at the beginning, namely the American War of Independence (1775-1783), a war between Great Britain and its 13 colonies, which declared independence in July 1776. The peace agreement that ended the war is known as the Treaty of Paris signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay and Henry Laurens and by British Commissioner Richard Oswald, on Sept. 3, 1783. Article I of the Treaty held that “New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and Independent States.” Continue reading →

If this economic climate feels familiar to you, that’s because we have been here before…

The examination the historical red flags that preceded crises dating back to the Roman Empire.

You’ve got to stand back and not bury your head in inconsequential detail if you want to understand history. Land and poverty are always key.

Pax Romana
The Roman Empire was destroyed by having spread its powerful and expensive military too thinly to support counter-productive property bubbles at home. Debt was partly serviced by military plunder of the resources from conquered nations. Although the empire battled on–so to speak–for another three centuries following the death of Pliny the Elder at the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he had understood the damage land speculation was doing to the nation. It had destroyed it: “Latifundia perdidere Italiam“. The building of great estates came at an enormous cost to an impoverished middle class and to the agricultural poor, the latter who flooded into Rome for succour. In rent-seeking economies, it seems farmers will always do it hard whilst the city flourishes. Continue reading →