As revolutionary as they claimed to be, the French Revolutionaries were as old as sin, Edmund Burke assured his readers. “Trace them through all their artifices, frauds, and violences,” he argued, and “you can find nothing at all that is new.” Roughly four-fifths into his spectacular Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke paused. [...]
For Calvin Coolidge, the Declaration of Independence is “a great spiritual document," which possesses a “finality” that “is exceedingly restful": “If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, that is final.” This week, [...]
Historical consciousness is to civilized society what memory is to individual identity. Without memory there are no workable rules of conduct, no standard of justice, no basis for restraining passions, no sense of the connection between an action and its consequences. A culture without memory will necessarily be barbarous. I am delighted to be with [...]
The Americans of the Revolution wrote about the new man who leaves behind his old prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the mode of life he embraces, and whose labors would change the world. But, one must ask, to what extent was this true? Just exactly how new was the American of 1775? In [...]
Abraham Lincoln did all that he could to preserve constitutional rule by trying to teach his fellow citizens what it means to be an American. The paradox of Abraham Lincoln’s appearance in the United States’ sectional conflict becomes manifest if one considers a passage written by James Madison in Federalist No. 10. In that paper, [...]
The Major Oak, like Robin Hood and Maid Marian, has died. Its death is felt even more deeply because of what it signifies. Its death seems to signify the death of England itself. Imagine for a moment that you are in Middle-earth. Imagine what you would think or feel were you to be told that [...]
Humans thrive upon historical continuity and knowing their communities are built with deep roots. But histories based on theories of power dynamics destroy an unseen social glue, leaving behind those who understood their place through a shared history. For those disinclined toward interstate highways, the best way to enter New England is eastward out of [...]
What do the women and men who occupy the innumerable office buildings on either of the Potomac think about those gun-toting revolutionary gentlemen of the eighteenth century? As I type this, I’m sitting in a restaurant near Gates 10/11 in one of the terminals (not sure which one) of Reagan/Washington airport. The place is packed, [...]
Forrest McDonald demonstrated that the historian above all must be a pragmatist who looks at the reality of the past as it was, who gets his hands dirty by putting in long hours of research, who makes sense of vast quantities of data, and who then communicates what he has found in an understandable and [...]
Is there a century in human history which can claim to be better than all the others? Many, especially Catholics, might argue that the thirteenth century deserves such an accolade. According to Church historian, Alan Schreck, this was “the greatest century of spiritual, cultural, and intellectual advancement in the history of Western civilization”. It was [...]
State Sovereigntists made their biggest stand over the Treaty of Peace. Their resistance to the Treaty played a critical role in shaping how Americans understood the role state sovereignty played in both the constitutional system and politics. The American Revolution, State Sovereignty, and the American Constitutional Settlement, 1765-1800 by N. Coleman (294 pages, Lexington Books, 2016) [...]
The Church owes a profound debt to Eusebius of Caesarea, for without him much of early Christian history and lore would have passed into oblivion, and we would be ignorant of a good deal of our early past. Most believers are probably unaware that the question of Jesus Christ’s divinity was once put up for [...]
In Willa Cather’s "The Professor’s House," there’s the new, modern, luxury home built by his wife with prize money Professor St. Peter was awarded following the publication of his eight-volume history on the Spanish explorers in America. The Professor has spent years on the history. But the luxury of the new home represents materialism and [...]
Michel de la Tour D’Auvergne gave his horse to his servant. He watched the man take the two animals to the head of the bridge over the Grosne, and then with a sudden gesture of complete release he threw himself down on the river bank and gave himself up without reserve to the scene before [...]