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 ...
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128 views
Is there evidence that working for the Pony Express was dangerous, or not dangerous?
So I was thinking about what it was like working for the Pony Express and I am wondering was it an extremely dangerous job? I'm thinking that given the success of the Pony Express it must not have ...
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172 views
Did the United States have a third atomic bomb to drop on Japan?
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the United States, signing the instrument of surrender on 2 September, officially ending the war.
The question ...
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678 views
Early attempts to abolish slavery in USA
Were there any early attempts or debates to abolish slavery in the USA, before Lincoln?
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2answers
890 views
Why did Spain not participate in World War I?
Spain was losing influence in America for the previous 100 years, and there was a recent Spanish-American war. So how could have Spain remained neutral?
Why could Spain not find a place in the ...
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2answers
359 views
Why didn't the US choose to demolish Tokyo with an atom bomb?
Tokyo was Japan's capital. Why didn't the US choose Tokyo to demolish with Atom Bomb?
Bonus Question: What factors decided to bring Hiroshima and Nagasaki on table?
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108 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 ...
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119 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 ...
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3answers
323 views
How did New York become the financial hub of America?
Why did New York become the financial hub of America, rather than one of the other big cities?
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2answers
237 views
When did navies stop giving out a drink ration to their sailors?
I seem to remember that the British Navy, and the US Navy maybe, used to give out a ration of alcohol to sailors each day. When did this practice stop, and why?
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314 views
Did the Olympics make the Star Spangled Banner the US national anthem?
A long, long time ago, I remember watching a TV miniseries about the first Olympics of the modern era in 1896.
One of the amusing substories I remember involved the USA's National Anthem and the ...
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79 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 ...
8
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94 views
Why was the area now known as Liberia chosen as the location for repatriation of African slaves in the US?
The American Colonization Society thought that colonizing Africa for the purpose of returning US slaves to Africa was the solution to slavery problems. Why, and how, did they come to decide that the ...
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3answers
815 views
What was President Jimmy Carter's role in the Iranian Revolution?
Iran was a friend to the USA until Carter traveled to Iran and immediately afterwards Iran faced revolution. Khomeini went to Iran from France.
On November 4, 1979, an angry mob of young Islamic ...
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242 views
What were Hispanic people called in the US in the 1800s?
Today in the US, people from Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas are called by various names: Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, etc. What was the term used by Americans for such people in the 1800s?
...
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4answers
254 views
Is there any evidence to support the claim that the US Strategic Defense Initiative played any significant role in undermining the USSR?
I have been reading Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, and one of the things that stuck me was a quote by Soviet hydrogen bomb creator Andrei Sakharov who was released from political imprisonment ...
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1answer
150 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 ...
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3answers
444 views
How much has U.S. currency inflated since 1792?
How much has U.S. currency inflated since the Coinage Act of 1792 established the U.S. Mint? Adjusting for inflation, what amount of modern currency would have the same buying power as a 1792 dollar?
...
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4answers
258 views
Did the USA win the counter insurgency war in the Vietnam war?
What happened in the aftermath of the Tet offensive to the Viet Cong? Was it actually broken or did it just incorporate into the North Viet Nam army?
Edit: I am fully aware that the USA lost the ...
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209 views
How Many Members of US Congress Have Died While In Office?
As best I can tell, Leo Ryan of California is the only U.S. Member of Congress murdered while in office. He was killed by members of the People's Temple in Guyana in 1978. What I'm looking for are how ...
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3answers
189 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" ...
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1answer
102 views
Why did the states that were born out of the Louisiana purchase adopt a common law system, and not a civil law system?
The French system of laws is a civil law system that is based upon the Napoleonic Code, and further back the Justinian Code. The legal system in Louisiana is now bijuridicial retaining some of the ...
7
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1answer
92 views
What institutional precursors enabled labor unions to emerge in the United States?
What institutions and/or organizations existed in the United States before the structured and recognizable labor unions formed as a visible sign of organizations to come? How did these predecessor ...
7
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1answer
103 views
What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
It is my understanding that the Soviet Union supported governments in Syria during the cold-war primarily as a counter-balance to American influence over regional powers particularly Saudi Arabia and ...
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4answers
21k views
If Bill Clinton was impeached, why did he finish up his second term
I don't understand how he could have been impeached but did not have to leave office.
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5answers
383 views
What incentives are in place for American soldiers to go fight in Iraq?
I am from Brazil, a country that has not fought any war since WW2. If you join the army, go fight in Iraq and then return, what will the USA pay you? Is there a health plan for life, a pension, or ...
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3answers
171 views
What was the American policy on colonisation and why?
What was the official policy of the USA on colonisation? How well did America follow it officially and non-officially? What were the reasons behind it?
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576 views
Who was the last US president who did not start a war?
Who was the last US president who did not start a war?
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3answers
119 views
Were there any political checks on the U.S. executive during their covert support of the military junta of Pinochet?
U.S. secretary of state Kissinger- with the support of the executive- actively supported the overthrow of Chilean president Allende in favor of the military dictatorship of Pinochet. After the fact, ...
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4answers
611 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 ...
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5answers
265 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?
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4answers
158 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 ...
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3answers
168 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 ...
6
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3answers
206 views
Chronology of Political Party Alignment with “Left” and “Right”
I once heard it said that U.S. political parties (Republicans and Democrats) have both spent the last century becoming increasingly liberal, such that 21st century Republicans now hold the same ...
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2answers
199 views
Founding Fathers and the Civil War
I was reading an article and was wondering if there is anything out there to indicate that the Founding Fathers saw the potential for conflict regarding these specific points:
Economic and ...
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114 views
Did American Indians disrupt railroads in their regions?
In the Old West, many railroads went through Indian-occupied areas. Are there any documented instances of the Indians ever sabotaging the railroads? Please provide dates and circumstances where ...
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1answer
168 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, ...
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1answer
100 views
Did the US gov't pay the Cherokee for their lands in Georgia?
According to the Treaty of New Echota, ratified by the US Senate in 1836, the US government was supposed to pay the Cherokee Nation $5 million for their lands in and around Georgia. In exchange, the ...
6
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1answer
94 views
During the American Civil War, could you send mail to someone across the border?
Before the Civil War, there was mail service between all the different states. During the war, could you still send a letter from, say New York to Georgia, or did the post office shut down services ...
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43 views
Which parts of the Townshend Act were repealed in 1770?
The Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 and partially repealed in 1770. Which clauses were repealed at that time?
I've looked around and found the original text, but I cannot find specifically what ...
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1answer
245 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?
6
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1answer
165 views
Where is the location shown in this picture on a modern day map?
This image from this site is named Traffic Jam at the New York Entrance of the Holland Tunnel. New York City, 1920s
As I understand, this is at Manhattan end of Holland Tunnel. I've tried, without ...
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1answer
79 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 ...
6
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1answer
77 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 ...
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1answer
125 views
What coin denominations were used in the US before Dollars and Cents?
In Thomas Jefferson's proposal for a decimal currency, he describes the status quo as:
The [cent] will differ little from the copper of the four Eastern
States, which is 1/108 of a dollar; still ...
6
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1answer
179 views
History of baseball and cricket
Recently I started reading a very interesting comic about high school baseball. I found that baseball shares so many similarities with Cricket. So I tried to look for some information regarding the ...
6
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1answer
448 views
Did King George III turn his back on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?
After the resolution of the Revolutionary War, John Adams and (later) Thomas Jefferson were diplomatic agents in London. John Adams had been there a while and had previously met the King, apparently ...
6
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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 ...
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5answers
1k views
Why is the USA the world's strongest country?
The USA has been the world's strongest country for a long time now.
Even after the rise of China as one of the dominant economies in the world, the USA is still the world's top economy.
Does the USA ...
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4answers
253 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, ...
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4answers
225 views
Does US law permit spending taxpayers' money to support foreign political parties?
Here is a video, showing a number of Russian opposition activists visiting U.S. embassy before Russian presidential elections:
...
