History
Vergil: Poet Laureate of the American Founding
The reverse side of the dollar bill reproduces the Great Seal of the United States. On the left is the back of the seal. It features two Latin phrases. Annuit coeptis means “He [i.e., God] has approved our undertakings.” It is an abbreviation of a line from a prayer...
American Cincinnatus: A Victorious General Refuses a Crown
On December 4, 1783, at Fraunces Tavern, the popular public house located at the corner of Pearl and Broad Streets in Manhattan, General George Washington delivered the first of his many farewells. The parties with American dignitaries were finished, the hands of...
The Republic was not Kept: Benjamin Franklin’s Constitution Day Prediction
“A republic … if you can keep it” September 17, 1787 – the day the constitution was signed. We all know Benjamin Franklin’s famous line. But he wasn’t warning us about the government. He wasn’t even warning about the constitution....
The Great Bypass: How the Constitution Was Built to Sideline the States
“This Constitution does not attempt to coerce sovereign bodies, states, in their political capacity.” With that one sentence, future Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth identified the single most important and least understood feature of the Constitution. It wasn’t just a...