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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251 views
First US police officer killed in the line of duty
Who was the first US police officer killed in the line of duty? When and where did it take place? By US police officer, I mean any active-duty police officer working for any force in the US ...
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1answer
190 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 ...
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2answers
209 views
If the Iraq War was because of their oil, has the US achieved their war aims
Let's assume:
The United States of America started the 2003 Iraq war to obtain Iraqi oil.
The Iraq war was very costly for the Americans, and a long and unfinished war has always made the ...
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2answers
106 views
How have changes in taxation affected philanthropy in the US?
Every so often, I see a newspaper article which states that the wealthiest people in my country make less substantial contributions to philanthropy (relative to their wealth) than do their American ...
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4answers
367 views
What factors led to the rise of political parties in the United States?
I know that at the time the Constitution was drafted partisan political parties did not exist, not in the way that we conceive of them today, and George Washington did not have a political party. ...
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184 views
How compare the rights and conditions of the American slaves to those of Russian serfs?
How compare the rights and conditions of the 19-th century American slaves to those of the 19-th century Russian serfs?
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2answers
140 views
Did non-Indians go into Indian Territory (now Oklahoma)?
From 1854 to 1907 there was a territory reserved for American Indians (aptly named "Indian Territory") in what is now the state of Oklahoma.
How exclusive was this territory? Did non-Indians go ...
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1answer
104 views
Did Native Americans sabotage telegraph lines running through their territory?
In the 1800s in the Western US, there were a number of telegraph lines running through territory mostly inhabited by Indians. Did they ever sabotage the lines?
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1answer
100 views
Was there ever a single train that ran straight from San Francisco to New York City, or any that ran truly from coast to coast?
Though the first Transcontinental Railroad was finished in 1869, the Overland Route seems to have only taken passengers between San Francisco and Council Bluffs, Iowa / Omaha, Nebraska via the ...
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283 views
What races did Americans classify people into during the 1800s?
I know that in different eras people have had different schemes for categorizing the people of the world by race, or disposing of such schemes altogether. What racial categories did people commonly ...
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91 views
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights at the time when the blacks finally got the equality of rights (which I think was in 1964).
...
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1answer
98 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 ...
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310 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 ...
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77 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), ...
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256 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?
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3answers
173 views
Has any US President served in a government position with a foreign nation before or after their presidency?
Has a person elected to the US Presidency ever held a government position in a nation besides the United States?
I think any government-related role would be an interesting answer. I think the ...
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2answers
116 views
U.S. Marine Corps and Why does the Navy’s army need its own air force?
A recent interview by C-SPAN host Brian Lamb with Washington Post staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran touched on many controversial issues of the F-35 acquisition program where evidently a lot of pork ...
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3answers
176 views
Did Ted Kennedy turn to the Soviet Union for help winning an election?
Reading an interesting article in Forbes, I was dumbfounded by the idea that Ted Kennedy might have sought out Yuri Andropov's help to run for president against Ronald Reagan in 1984. A relevant ...
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4answers
153 views
What precipitated the rise of social safety nets in the United States?
In the United States we received changes in the social safety net over the past century with the big changes coming in the form of social security and medicaid/medicate as well as other programs. The ...
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2answers
102 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?
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84 views
Was there anything like African American architecture style or symbolic in the beginning of 20th century?
At the beginning of 20th century, large masses of black people were migrating to North or between districts of the same towns (like in New York from Tenderloin or San Juan Hill to Harlem, previously ...
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3answers
575 views
Evolution of United States' world role? [closed]
This is a pretty big and general question, but I'm interested to hear some opinions from fellow StackExchangians:
Over the 20th century, how did the United States evolve into being a world ...
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2answers
138 views
“Brown-Bread Eater” meaning as used in an insult
The American Pageant (Bailey, Kennedy, Cohen, 2006) on p. 507 remarks:
...regular Republicans denounced Greeley as an atheist, a communist, a free-lover, a vegetarian, a brown-bread eater...
...
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63 views
When did Harvard give its last entrance exam?
I saw this article pointing out how different college admissions used to be, pre World War II. Entrance exams are still used around the world today but it seems like no American universities give out ...
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1answer
148 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 ...
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3answers
97 views
Did any of the US States ever attempt to secede, aside from American Civil War times?
Reading about the non-governmental organizations in support of the Texas secession movement, I've started to think if there were any States where such movements achieved something more.
My questions ...
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55 views
President proposes bills: provenance
The President of the United States sends proposed bills to members of Congress, that they may introduce the bills on his behalf. There's no provision for this in the Constitution (AFAICT).
What was ...
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2answers
74 views
Did the break up of AT & T in 1984 lead to technological innovation?
Are there examples of technologies developed since 1984 that would not have been likely to be developed had the Bell system stayed intact rather than being broken up by the US government?
UPDT: To ...
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1answer
239 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 ...
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1answer
103 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 ...
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1answer
104 views
Where were the Mormons going?
From what I've heard, when the Mormons left Illinois in 1846 they hadn't decided where exactly they were going to settle. Did they have some choices they were looking at? Did they have a route they ...
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1answer
80 views
Why are lower court jurists, judges, and supreme court jurists, justices?
I cannot find any information explaining why judges that sit on a Supreme Court are referred to as "justices," and judges that sit on a lower court are "judges." Everything I've found seems to ...
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41 views
Past US invovlement in Iran and Iraq
If I remember correctly that the U.S did switch sides between sides supporting both Iraq and Iran at some point due to some sort of Cold War Reason. So my question is did the U.S. back empowerment of ...
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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 ...
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73 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 ...
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1answer
80 views
Why didn't Ronald Reagan become Republican candidate for the President of the USA in 1976?
I'd really like to know, how did it happen that Ronald Reagan lost the Republican Party presidential primaries in 1976, against Gerald Ford.
It's easier for me to understand that he could fail in the ...
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1answer
231 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 ...
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1answer
712 views
What is the definitive biography of James Madison?
I'm in the early stages of a project whereby I want to read a biography of each US President. Can you point me towards the best such biography on James Madison? I'd like something that covers his ...
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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 ...
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4answers
299 views
Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with US aside from US owning Philippines?
Right after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the US acquired the Philippines from Spain. At that time, local leaders desired Philippines independence. The Philippines-American War was fought around ...
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3answers
201 views
Why Americans like to enroll in military services despite huge risks involved?
Working in US military is one of the riskiest jobs in America because of the regular engagement in battles compared to other military in the world.
I live in a third-world country. Even in my ...
3
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2answers
136 views
Which technologies/commodities were available during the 30s on USA?
This is for a RPG story, so I don't need too much accuracy, but the common stuff would be very useful :)
I've already found this site: http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/ but would like more ...
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3answers
171 views
Why did George H. W. Bush select Dan Quayle as his running mate in 1988?
I've just been revisiting some quotes from Dan Qualyle. For example:
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and
democracy – but that could change.
and
We are ready ...
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2answers
167 views
Why did the US, Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden vote against the UN resolution that condemned Nazism and SS glorification?
Why did some Western countries, including the US, Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden vote against UN resolution 61/147 that condemned Nazism and SS glorification?
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5answers
158 views
How Did The US Justice System Lose Sight of Intent?
In the USA all that seems to matter is the letter of the law. This example demonstrates how a US law is being used for things it was never intended.
The British Justice System places a huge emphasis ...
3
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1answer
220 views
Did JFK win the presidential election by fraud?
Based on sources such as Chicago Tribune, Encyclopedia Britannica, Slate Magazine and many other books, it is said that JFK's father played a significant part in making him president. In the book, "If ...
3
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1answer
555 views
Difference between V-5 and V-12 Navy programs during WWII
I was curious if there was a difference between the V-5 and V-12 Navy programs during World War II. I have found a lot of information on V-12 program specifically ...
3
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1answer
135 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 ...
3
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1answer
89 views
What are some major military successes achieved by the former Soviet Union against the Western World?
What are some major military successes achieved by the former Soviet Union against the Western World that shook the US and its cold war allies?
3
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2answers
189 views
Based on historical experience what would happen if/when the USA/EU fell?
In this video the guy talking mentions that when empires fall. Governance tends to become more local and smallscale(warlords, feudal lords etc) because threats tend to become smallscale and local. And ...
