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 ...
13
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4answers
652 views
Why doesn't Russia maintain significant numbers of Aircraft carriers?
The United States has 11 aircraft carriers in total. Russia has only one. We saw in the past that the USSR also didn't put much importance on constructing aircraft carriers and putting them into ...
3
votes
2answers
166 views
Recommended Reading 19th Century US Settler Daily Life?
At the time of this writing, I am riding in the comfort of an air conditioned minivan, traveling through the deserts of Arizona and California along I-10. I began to think about 19th century settlers ...
17
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2answers
304 views
What led to the first fight in the American Civil War?
After Lincoln was elected president 11 states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. What circumstances surrounding this secession led to the first battle of the war, and ...
4
votes
1answer
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 ...
10
votes
3answers
886 views
Why did the United States enter World War I?
The topic of World War I came up last night with a few strangers, at a bar, of course. One seemingly knowledgeable gentleman, who happened to have Howard Zinn's A Peoples' History of the United States ...
10
votes
1answer
135 views
Were mattress labels inspired by public outcry?
If you're an American consumer, you likely know the "mattress tag", labels attached to mattresses, pillows, stuffed animals, and pet beds, which often begin "This tag may not be removed under penalty ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
What factors enabled the New York Journal to survive the yellow journalism wars?
The height of yellow journalism was a battle waged between the Joseph Pulitzer owned New York World, and the William Hearst owned New York Journal. However, even though these two papers boasted large ...
6
votes
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 ...
8
votes
4answers
244 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
99 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 ...
3
votes
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 ...
6
votes
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 ...
3
votes
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?
24
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2answers
1k views
Why did Britain not purchase Alaska when Russia had it up for sale?
One thing that comes up often when discussing "what-ifs" with family or friends is why the British government never nabbed Alaska when Russia had placed it up for sale and made it into Canada's fourth ...
21
votes
2answers
966 views
Why did the French sell Louisiana?
Why did an imperialistic country like France (at that time) sell a territory so large for so cheap? Was it an important region at the time? I heard that the port of New Orleans was particularly ...
6
votes
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?
12
votes
2answers
155 views
When did it become acceptable to campaign for yourself for US President?
I am fascinated by the stark differences between election mechanics/strategies/policies of the early United States when compared to today.
In the early days of the US, it was seen as "ungentlemanly" ...
15
votes
4answers
574 views
Why do minor political parties in the US receive so few votes?
Reading about the election statistics in the United States I was amazed about how few votes are received by the minor parties and their candidates.
For example, Gloria La Riva received only 181 votes ...
6
votes
1answer
447 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
207 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 ...
6
votes
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, ...
2
votes
3answers
767 views
Has the US Congress ever repealed a law?
Has the United States Congress ever repealed legislation, rather than amend the legislation or let the legislation be annulled by the Supreme Court?
It seems to me that once a law is passed it ...
3
votes
2answers
188 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
133 views
United States Incarceration Rate
How many people were sentenced to prison in 2011 in the United States? This statistic is hard to come by online. The only measured incarceration rate I've come across is the amount of people ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
Were labor shortages ever a problem for the railroads in the Old West?
Many different rail lines were build in the western United States from the 1850s onwards. Was construction ever delayed/canceled due to difficulty in finding workers, or due to workers leaving the ...
-1
votes
1answer
2k views
Who were some famous Vietnam War Hawks and Doves?
Who were some famous people who opposed/supported the Vietnam War?
6
votes
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 ...
6
votes
2answers
197 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 ...
8
votes
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?
1
vote
2answers
115 views
Were Civil-War-era Americans better writers than modern Americans? [closed]
Whenever I hear people recite speeches, letters, and historical accounts from Americans who lived through the Civil War, I'm struck by the exceptional quality of their writing. Compared to modern ...
9
votes
1answer
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 ...
5
votes
2answers
139 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
103 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 ...
5
votes
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?
2
votes
1answer
231 views
Where did the railroad companies find workers to build the rails?
In the building of the various transcontinental railroads in the western US during the late 1800s, how did the railroad companies find workers?
I suppose I'm looking for an answer like "They paid a ...
2
votes
1answer
84 views
What factors led to the US government issuing nutrition guidelines in 1916?
This timeline from the Washington Post says that the United States Department of Agriculture issued its first food guidelines in 1916 for children, and then did one in 1920 for adults. My question is, ...
2
votes
1answer
96 views
What differences led to Technicolor becoming the dominant color filming technology in Hollywood?
Apparently another technology, Kinemacolor, was invented first in the UK, but it never caught on in Hollywood. Kinemacolor was expensive, and had some other glitches involved, but the fact that it was ...
8
votes
1answer
93 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
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 ...
-1
votes
1answer
86 views
Did Johnny Appleseed actually exist? [closed]
According to Wikipedia, his real name was John Chapman. Is this true?
13
votes
1answer
170 views
How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
I was reading that the bananas we eat today (Cavendish) weren't particularly popular until the 50s, when the more popular Gros Michel variety was virtually wiped out by a nasty disease. Apparently ...
17
votes
3answers
351 views
Has there ever been a serious effort to reform the US Electoral College system?
There seems to be widespread feeling that the US Electoral College distorts the will of the people in presidential elections. Of course, that ability was part of the reason that our founding fathers ...
11
votes
3answers
406 views
Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
I can't seem to find information about economists, or others, warning about the overheated stock market of the 1920s in the US that would culminate in the stock market crashing on Black Thursday, ...
10
votes
5answers
389 views
Are Americans More Obsessed With the Military Aspect of History? If so, why?
If there is anything in my mind that has been particularly pronounced about American historical interests it has been an overriding interest in the military aspects of history. This can be viewed in ...
12
votes
5answers
672 views
Is the Cold War still going on?
Do any historians consider the Cold War, or Cold War II, to be going on?
I'm asking because some features of the Cold War still exist, such as an antagonism between Russia and the Western world, and ...
4
votes
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 ...
14
votes
2answers
267 views
Has the United States ever been formally condemned by the United Nations?
Presumably, due to its veto power, the United States has never been condemned by the UN Security Council, but has it has it ever been formally condemned by another UN governing body, like the General ...
6
votes
1answer
178 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 ...
11
votes
4answers
445 views
Can someone help explain this floor plan of a mid 20th century apartment?
I was watching 12 Angry Men, which was made in 1957; and they show this floor plan of an apartment:
My main question is, what's the opening in the wall between the hallway and the main room? It ...
7
votes
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 ...
