Questions tagged [united-states]
The United States of America is a sovereign state stretching across North America between Canada and Mexico, 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 the 1700s, the US spread across the continent by conquest and land-purchase to become the most powerful country on the planet after the Cold War in the 1900s.
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How was the size of the stars on the American flag decided?
Here's what I know so far: Until 1912, there was no precise definition of the American flag, with the layout of the stars and exact dimensions of the components not officially defined. This changed ...
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Where is Sacagawea buried? [closed]
Do we have a definitive answer as to where Sacagawea (more here) is buried? I followed the entire Lewis and Clark trail between 2003-2006 and was in no fewer than three or four towns/sites where she ...
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How many times have the results of the US presidential election been officially challenged?
Most elections have a process to challenge the results of the election, to request a recount or to identify irregularities in the election process. How often have the results of the US Presidential ...
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What is this kind of supply package called?
81 hundred pounds of ammunition, or other supplies.
The landing craft contains a package which the narrator describes as '81 hundred pounds of ammunition'. What is this kind of package called? It ...
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What American military strategist is Yves de Gaulle referring to?
In this visit of Charles de Gaulle's personal library, his grandson Yves de Gaulle mentions his was surprised not to have found books from US military strategists, including "Maran"(?). Who ...
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What is the source of the cartoon against the US war in Vietnam ending with "I just get killed"?
There was an antiwar cartoon that showed a sequence of persons from the United States, each with words suggesting they had little or no responsibility for the war, e.g. "I just do the ...
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Is Edwin M. Stanton related to Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
After reading part of an American history book over the weekend, I have a frankly dumb question.
Is suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton related at all to Reconstruction-Era Secretary of War Edwin M. ...
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Has the US Congress ever met outdoors?
Has either house of the United States Congress ever met to do official business outdoors?
I tried searching for "Has Congress ever met outdoors?", "Has the House of Representatives ever ...
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How did the Cold War contribute to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
I understand from Dudziak's "Cold War Civil Rights" that Soviet criticism of the US's civil rights record influenced the passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act. However, I was wondering if there ...
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Has there ever been an investigation into Alcatraz Penitentiary building quality?
Reading about Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary I realised that it had a short service life. Built in 1910–12 and closed in 1963.
The most common explanation states that the the high salinity caused by ...
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Was there ever an attempt to give Native Americans their own country?
Thinking about the Native Americans, and the devastation they suffered, has there ever been an attempt to allow them to form their own country, giving them any part of the USA's land?
Would their ...
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In the Spanish-American War (1898), who formally declared war first?
In particular, did Spain formally declare war on the US first?
Britannica (without sources):
April 24, 1898
Spain declares war on the United States.
April 25, 1898
The United States declares war ...
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Is there any evidence that the black community was anticipating election-related violence in the lead up to the Ocoee Race Massacre?
PART I: THE OCOEE MASSACRE
The "Ocoee Massacre", was an incident of race-related violence directed at the black community in Ocoee, Florida on 2 November 1920. I'll briefly summarize the ...
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Did enslaved persons take their owner's surnames?
My last name is Stokes. And I've noticed that there is a large amount of African Americans that have the same last name. Years ago I watched a documentary that mentioned that usually slaves would take ...
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How was "three fifths" decided on?
I understand the reasons behind the Three-fifths Compromise, but I don't know how that particular fraction was chosen. Why did the US Constitution have a Three-fifths compromise, rather than a One-...
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During segregation and Jim Crow laws in the US what happened if a person was allowed to use white facilities but other users objected? [closed]
In Nazi Germany everything was formal and on paper, whatever you looked even if you were in yermulke, if you had a paper allowing you to go somewhere and do something, no-one could object. But what ...
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What events or situations of WW1 led to a Nazi fascination with Anglo-Saxon powers?
In the book Hitler, a world biography of Brendan Simms, it is said that Hitler and Nazi leaders were fascinated by the "power of the anglo-saxon countries". It is also mentionned that this ...
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Why did US federal tax revenue jump in 1815?
(Source)
The above chart of US federal tax revenue as a share of GDP shows four distinct jumps:
1941-1945 (World War II)
1917-1920 (World War I)
1862-1865 (American Civil War)
1815 (the year after ...
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How difficult was it to spoof the sender of a telegram in 1890-1920's in USA?
For my current genealogical research, I'm interested in how telegrams were sent inside the USA, in the 1890's through 1920's. I do not have copies of any actual telegrams that were sent or received; ...
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How did Admiral King survive his early mistakes in World War II?
In all fairness, Admiral Ernest J. King made important contributions to World War II as the U.S. naval Commander in Chief, most notably in the Pacific theater.
He had a number of major weaknesses, ...
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Were U.S. ships attacked in Tokyo Bay?
I remember my father, who was there, telling me that around the time of the Japanese surrender at the close of WW2 there were night-time attacks by anti-surrender imperialists on several U.S. ships in ...
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When did McFaul & Sechin first meet?
According to David Remnick,
In 1991, McFaul was in St. Petersburg, trying to organize a seminar on local government. He found himself doing business with a man from the mayor’s office named Igor ...
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Who was the model for Trutat's famous painting Nude Girl on a Panther Skin?
I have actually got as far as a surname with this one: Tussa. But, if possible, I would like to get a forename and a date of birth to go with it.
Félix Trutat painted his famous Nude Girl on a ...
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What was the process used to decide on the name of the US capital, Washington DC?
I'm interested in learning about the history behind the naming of the United States capital, Washington DC. Why was it named after George Washington, and who made the decision to name it after him?
...
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How can I find my father’s regiment number on his honorable discharge papers?
I’m trying to understand my dad’s army discharge papers (WD AGO form 53-55). How do I know what regiment he served in? Some people think he may have served under Patton because the places he went ...
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Did the famous abolitionist Elihu Embree own slaves at the time of his death?
I was reading the first edition of The Emancipator, found here:
"THE EMANCIPATOR." Emancipator, 30 Apr. 1820, p. 1. Slavery
and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive
link.gale.com/apps/doc/...
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Is there any (other) record of white people being sold into slavery in America?
Awhile back I asked a question about a book The Boy John: Story of a White Slave written in 1897. The book tells the story of a white boy who was sold into slavery. His master made him stay outside ...
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Has old masonry been found with the bodies of slaves inside?
I was just reading the first edition of the The Emancipator on Gale's Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Database. One way to get access is through a Houston Public Library E-Card, which are ...
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Why does the M61 Vulcan have a flash suppressor?
In most pictures of an M61 Vulcan, you can see a flash suppressor (clearly not a muzzle brake, which could've made some sense to me).
Knowing that these were mostly used on US military fixed-wing ...
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In the US Army in WWII how long did it typically take for a promotion from private to PFC?
In early 1943 how long might it take for an US Army inductee to be promoted from private to PFC? What were the requirements?
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Where can I find a comprehensive collection of all American Founding Fathers' writings?
I was taught in school that the Founding Fathers of America were very prolific and that they produced many documents during their time, including books, pamphlets, magazines, letters, diaries, etc. ...
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Was Ford the only person who became a US president without winning an election?
I have a question about the 38th US president Gerald Rudolph Ford.
Ford is the only person to become U.S. president without winning an
election for president or vice president.
link
I told my father ...
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Did the drapes in old theatres actually say "ASBESTOS" on them?
In many old cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s, whenever there is a theatre scene or similar, and the curtains come down, they literally say "ASBESTOS" on them.
Was this based on real life? ...
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What was the logic behind state censuses?
Conducting genealogy research, I always liked when my targets were in times and places where they have state censuses to back up the federal census. Frequently, the state census is conducted in years ...
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Which institutions are known to have been involved in Project MK-Ultra?
Apparently, during the MKUltra project (the CIA's notorious research project into poisons, intoxicating drugs, drug-assisted interrogation and whether mind control was really possible, involving a lot ...
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What patriotic music might have been popular for Independence Day in 1866?
I am on a search for American patriotic music that would have been performed at a New England (specifically, Portland, Maine) Independence Day celebration in 1866. I would like to find a list of ...
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Where can I find more details about "historian" André Du Nay?
André Du Nay appears as the author of one book, The Origins of the Rumanians: The Early History of the Rumanian Language, Toronto; Buffalo: Matthias Corvinus Pub. reviewed here on a respectable ...
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In the days of slavery, were heterosexual interracial pairings more common with black men and white women, or black women and white men? [closed]
Of course, the anti miscegenation laws were in place that prohibited interracial marriage, so it must have been something that went on and so was a concern.
On that note, did miscegenation laws mainly ...
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Was Emperor Norton I recognised by Kamehameha V?
Emperor Norton I "reigned" as Emperor of the United States from 1859 to his death in 1880 – though he was mostly ignored by the de facto government of the time. Wikipedia makes the claim ...
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Where did Carlson's Raiders get Boys anti-tank rifles in 1942 and why?
According to English Wikipedia, during the 1942 Raid on Makin Atoll (modern-day Butaritari, Kiribati) the Marine Raiders used Boys anti-tank rifles to attack the Japanese flying boats that attempted ...
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How adamant/sustained was George F. Kennan's opposition to the [creation of the] UN?
Wikipedia's page on George F. Kennan says that he
warned against U.S. participation and reliance on multilateral, legalistic and moralistic organizations such as the United Nations.
(Citing a review ...
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Where is the other surviving chest from the Boston Tea Party?
A web site dicussing the Boston Tea Party has the following paragraph:
Two hundred thirty-nine years later, young John’s find, one of only
two known surviving tea chests from the Boston Tea Party, ...
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Why did Women's Day never really catch on in the US, even though it started there?
The roots of International Women's Day (March 8th) go all the way back to New York City in 1909 and the Socialist Party of America. However, from what I have learned the International Women's Day is ...
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Are there some concrete examples of the pre-1962 Soviet complaints in re CORONA spy satellites?
According to Pat Norris' book Spies in the Sky (p. 111)
until the first successful Zenit flight in summer 1962 the Soviets complained bitterly to America about the CORONA flights.
However he does ...
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When was the official cover of Project Genetrix abandoned? Did the Soviets show (or threaten to show) any of the balloons' equipment?
I've read the Wikipedia page on Project_Genetrix (and one of its sources) but one aspect that's not clear to me is when the official cover the project was abandoned. According to the declassified ...
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Did Edith Wilson influence the passage of the 19th Amendment?
Edith Wilson handled her husband Woodrow Wilson's presidential business, heavily so, after his stroke until the end of his term. As
"In My Memoir, published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her ...
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Were the alleged CIA attempts to set up an economic spy ring in Japan in the 1980s disclosed in the Japanese press at the time?
According Brad Williams' book Japanese Foreign Intelligence, which also has a chapter (#2) on CIA's activities in spying on Japan, the CIA tried their hand at economic & tech spying on Japan in ...
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Do We Know 100% of the Victims of 9/11?
The 9/11 Memorial contains nearly 3,000 names for the victims of 9/11. However, based on a news article on September 7, 2021, there are still 1,106 victims of 9/11 who have not yet been identified.
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How is "Jones series" used in the National Archives Office of Strategic Services records?
I was looking around on the National Archives' website in their World War II archives and came across Records of the Office of Strategic Services 1940-1946 (RG 226). One of the contents of the records ...
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Is it true that the A10 gun was made less accurate on purpose?
I heard that the engineers that worked on the A-10 modified the gun to increase its spread. Supposedly because it was very hard for the pilot to keep the gun perfectly on target, and with higher ...
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