The United States of America is a nation-state stretching across North America between Canada and Mexico, plus Alaska in the continent's northwest, the mid-Pacific archipelago of Hawaii and several territories in the Pacific & Caribbean. Founded by European émigrés rebelling from British control in ...
4
votes
1answer
275 views
How did the “Forty Niners” get to California in 1849?
How did the "Forty Niners" get to California in 1849?
In 1849, the Panama Canal would not have been built for over 50 years, meaning that ships from the U.S. east coast would have had to sail all the ...
1
vote
1answer
126 views
How many non-partisan (independent) legislature members were in the USA compared to the USSR?
How many legislature members there were who were not members of any party in the USA compared to the USSR during the Cold War and now?
3
votes
3answers
172 views
Was the death toll in the atomic bombing of Japanese territory greater than was expected by the US?
It is known that the US tried to justify their atomic bombing of Japanese cities by claiming they were aimed at military targets such as a plant and a bridge. Yet the bombs destroyed much more than ...
4
votes
1answer
108 views
What is the meaning behind Thomas Nast's political cartoon “Compromise--Indeed!”?
I'm struggling even with this explaination here: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0127.html
Who is holding the gun? That website explains:
Dominating this picture is the ...
11
votes
2answers
113 views
percentage of British and American troops involved in direct combat with enemy in World War II
How large a proportion of British and American troops were involved in direct combat with the enemy in World War II? What was the casualty rate among those men?
4
votes
2answers
107 views
Have there been gay riots in the US?
I was wondering has there ever been uprisings in the history of the US that were for gay rights or started by gay people?
-3
votes
3answers
533 views
What are historical examples of globalization in action? [closed]
What specific things in society demonstrate globalization to the fullest extent?
For example, every country in the world has electricity. Would this be a successful candidate for the representation ...
9
votes
1answer
404 views
Did the Soviet Union know when DEFCON levels changed?
The US military uses a scale of alert readiness called DEFCON, with DEFCON 5 being the lowest alert level and DEFCON 1 being the highest, preparing for imminent nuclear war. At least once during the ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
Why did Jefferson have to 'Stretch the Constitutional Breaking Point' for the Louisiana Purchase?
Because the U.S. Constitution did not explicitly grant the president the power to purchase territory, when the 'Now or Never' moment came to purchase the Louisiana territory, he had 'stretched ...
8
votes
2answers
124 views
After the independence, did George Washington continue to wear a military uniform?
I know that some of the historic legends continued and some not. We are talking about 2nd half of the 18th century. Fashion was so fancy. Obviously, the founding fathers -- quite possibly -- adapted ...
10
votes
0answers
82 views
Are photos of WWII US Navy damage reports available online?
I have located a PDF of the USS Marblehead's Bomb Damage Report from 4 Feb 1942. The report lists plates of photographs which are not included in the report I have found.
Do copies of this report ...
5
votes
1answer
101 views
Upper-class male cohabitation in mid-19th century USA
James Buchanan is often considered to be the first (and only so far?) gay American president. The major piece of evidence for this (at least according to wikipedia and some popular articles on this ...
3
votes
1answer
60 views
Did the founding fathers think civil wars would be frequent?
I think I remember learning that one of the founding fathers (Thomas Jefferson maybe?) wrote (in a Federalist Paper maybe?) that there would need to be a civil war about once a generation to sustain ...
7
votes
3answers
203 views
Is the USA Congress explicitly patterned after the British Parliament?
I have always presumed this to be the case. They have a similar form: two chambers, the lower representing "all the people" and the upper representing, very roughly speaking, "institutional forces" ...
8
votes
1answer
81 views
What kind of wood was the standard decking for Aircraft Carriers in World War 2?
I know that both Japan and the United States used wooden decks on their WWII Aircraft Carriers. Was there a specific, "ideal" standard type of wood that was utilized by either country? If so, what ...
0
votes
1answer
68 views
What is the source of the Senate-as-saucer story?
A famous (though perhaps fictional) simile often quoted to point out
the differences between the House and Senate involves an argument
between George Washington, who favored having two chambers ...
6
votes
0answers
26 views
Which of LBJ's fellow representatives were less active than him in the House?
In the first book of Robert Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson, The Path to Power, he observes that in his time as a member of the House of Representatives, LBJ had introduced only 5 bills of national ...
4
votes
2answers
66 views
Georgia's Ruling by O. Henry
O. Henry's 1900 story, "Georgia's Ruling", http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/ohenry/bl-ohenry-georgia.htm describes a dire social problem related to the USA land laws and the "land ...
9
votes
1answer
164 views
Were there weapons that a private citizen could not legally own in 1789 in the US?
For example: a canon, certain types of muskets etc...
Were there laws for whether women or freed slaves could not own specific weapons?
2
votes
1answer
66 views
When did USA start to help developing countries?
In 2006, the United States government gave $23.53 billion in overseas development assistance.
When did these programs start?
10
votes
2answers
331 views
Why is Las Vegas located where it is?
Anybody know the history of Vegas and basically why that location was chosen as the main hub for gambling, hotels, and entertainment given that (at that time) it was pretty much a random desert in the ...
6
votes
1answer
81 views
What were the conditions that Peter Stuyvesant found when he arrived in America?
I have been studying Peter Stuyvesant recently, and would like to know two things about him and New Amsterdam:
What were the conditions that he found when he arrived in New Amsterdam? By this I mean ...
3
votes
3answers
295 views
What made Washington DC “dominate” politics in the USA?
Through history what role did Washington, DC play to become important and influence the US political system, and did it change its influence with time?
5
votes
1answer
89 views
Is one of the causes behind the cultural atmosphere surrounding the Scopes trial, and the concepts about family, “children are the future”?
To start, I noticed that during the peak of the American eugenics movement (1920-1929) that anti-evolutionary bills and eugenical bills were being passed in the same 37 states (well, just about), ...
4
votes
1answer
74 views
Why did the the US House of Representatives stop reading George Washington's farewell address on his birthday?
In January 1862, during the American Civil War, thousands of Philadelphia residents signed a petition requesting the Congress to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Washington's birth by reading ...
6
votes
1answer
175 views
Why was cricket's popularity in USA a casualty of Civil War?
"Cricket was by far the biggest sport [in the USA] in this period," Tim Lockley, an expert in American history at Warwick University, told the Guardian in 1999. "Then the civil war started in 1861, ...
2
votes
1answer
125 views
Has the US Congress's power to declare war been rendered superfluous by recent conflicts?
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Congress of the United States formally declared war on Japan. After Germany declared war on the United States, the Congress then formally declared war on ...
1
vote
1answer
499 views
Underground Tunnels in New York City and Boston
Where are the underground tunnels built by masons in New York City and Boston in 1760's~1780's? Do they exist till our present day?
3
votes
0answers
43 views
Who invented and marketed the first “clip on” headphones?
Headphone style terminology seems dodgy at best, but I'm trying to determine what company first sold this style of headphone in the US:
I've seen them variously described as "on the ear," "clip on" ...
6
votes
1answer
259 views
After the Civil War, which states had the most problems with rejoining the Union?
Once the American Civil war ended, did some states encounter more difficulty than others when it came to rejoining the Union? What circumstances or conditions might have contributed to their issues?
1
vote
4answers
719 views
What factors contributed to the U.S economy flourishing during the early cold war period?
Wars, cold or otherwise, are bad for economies, right? So why did American capitalism flourish during the early cold war period (shortly after World War II)?
I think there are several positive ...
3
votes
1answer
138 views
Did the Founding Fathers of the USA really make a distinction between a Republic and a Democracy (and despised the latter)?
I've come across this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-gEkKzRvbI
It makes a distinction between a Democracy (rule of majority) vs Republic (rule of law). It contests that a Republic is a state ...
5
votes
1answer
193 views
When was the last time (if ever) an elector was faithless in US presidential elections?
With regards to the ongoing US presidential elections, I just read this on electoral-vote.com:
Could There Be Faithless Electors?
Presidential electors are supposed to vote for the person who ...
0
votes
0answers
112 views
Did the US destroy all equipment returned after the war from the USSR? [closed]
According the land lease terms all the equipment shipped to the USSR during WWII had to be returned to the US after the war if not lost in fighting.
But according to some memoirs of Russian sailors, ...
6
votes
4answers
654 views
About the reasons for the US involvement in WW2 in Europe
From this question: World War II - Have Historians Envisioned How The Axis Powers Might Have Won? I understand that it is unlikely that Germany with its allies could have won WW2 even if they had ...
5
votes
2answers
332 views
Why did the USA take no action to help Pakistan during their 1971 war against India?
In 1971, USA and Pakistan were known to be strong allies or were they?
Why did the USA just pretend to help Pakistan and actually do nothing in the Indo-Pak war of 1971? Why did the 7th fleet not ...
6
votes
3answers
172 views
Natural born citizen
From what I understand, the so-called "birther movement" in the US asserts that Barack Obama is not eligible to be president of the USA because he allegedly wasn't born in the US and therefore is not ...
1
vote
1answer
91 views
Which battle enabled Andrew Jackson to become the President of USA?
Which significant battle enabled Andrew Jackson to become the President of the USA? Considering his leadership and contribution to this war he was catapulted to the White House.
6
votes
1answer
80 views
Did most pants in the late 1800s have plackets at the ankle?
Recently, while at the New York Public Library, I spotted this painting:
In it, Charles Astor Bristed is, in his youth, sporting pantaloons that appear to have a placket from ankle to knee.
Did ...
14
votes
3answers
521 views
Was the US Navy larger in 1917, and if so, why?
Following the recent discussion in the third US Presidental Debate about the size of the Navy, there actually seemed to be a good discussion buried in there.
How does the US Navy compare to its ...
6
votes
5answers
274 views
In the United States government, has there been cases that electoral colleges don't vote for the candidate the majority of their state voted for?
Has there ever been a case where electoral colleges vote for someone the people didn't vote for during an election for president of the United States?
5
votes
4answers
258 views
US: Who turned the (originally) “anti-slavery” GOP into the “pro-business” party?
It is my understanding that the Republican Party (of the US) arose from the anti-slavery movement, and, more specifically, as a reaction against the 1854 repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
And yet, ...
-6
votes
1answer
76 views
Destruction of WTC: is this version somehow substatinated? [closed]
Recently I read an article that claimed that WTC in reality was blown up rather than fell due to fire. In discord with various conspiracy theories the source claims that this fact is not a secret.
...
8
votes
2answers
109 views
Any precedents of U.S. presidents having served in other government roles after the ends of their terms?
Are there any precedents for U.S. presidents having served in other official government roles after the ends of their terms. Conceivably they could become ambassadors or Supreme Court judges, for ...
6
votes
4answers
162 views
Were the (early 17th C) arrivers/colonists to North America (USA) outcasts from European societies?
I have heard that early pilgrims for 'the new world' (North America / USA) left because they were indigent and had no support in their homelands. I have also heard that some were criminals or ...
4
votes
1answer
151 views
Did liberalism in the USA degenerate into something more totalitarian than liberal? [closed]
I'm not US resident, so that's a real question rather than pre-election discussion.
Where I live liberalism never seriously changed meaning in public debate (yet) - it is still more or less faithul ...
8
votes
1answer
152 views
Evolution of the names of slaves
I'm curious to know how the names of African slaves in the US changed from that of traditional names used by their tribes eventually to their modern, (mostly Christian) names. In other words, how did ...
4
votes
2answers
154 views
How significant was the US military role during the NATO campaign in Libya?
The NATO campaign in Libya was started by the UK and France, and the US was later also involved. How significant and vital was the US assistance in this campaign?
Edit: I am primarily interested in ...
2
votes
2answers
223 views
What is the single longest Presidential Campaign run in the United States?
Looking back to 2008 it looks like Mitt Romney has been running for President ever since he was in the 2008 Republican primaries where he lost to John McCain. Considering a short stoppage while ...
4
votes
1answer
232 views
The Great Compromise, is there analysis on the outcome?
I'm doing a research about the Great Compromise and how it originated from the Virginia and the New Jersey Plan. Has there been any analysis on which side got the better part of the compromise. (The ...
