No event in the annals of United States history is better known than the Boston Tea Party. The grassroots political movement even derives its name from it. But how much do we really know about it? As Paul Harvey used to say, here’s the rest of the story. The Tea Act of 1773 actually lowered the price of tea to the colonists. However, the effect of the act was unexpected. The act set in motion a chain of events which would soon lead open revolt. When the Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770, an import
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THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. There was no greater issue debated during the drafting and adoption of the U.S. Constitution than what the role of a new central government would be. All the delegates to the Constitutional Convention convened with fresh
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James Madison came from a prosperous family of Virginia planters, received an excellent education, and quickly found himself drawn into the debates over independence. In 1776, he became a delegate to the revolutionary Virginia Convention, where he worked closely with Thomas Jefferson to push through religious freedom statutes. The youngest member of the Continental Congress, Madison was small in stature. His soft-spoken manner was offset by his brilliant persistence in advocating his political agenda. Madison emerged as a respected leader of the Congress, known for his hard work and careful preparation. Leader of Political Battles
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There is much talk these days about the Constitution, but who were these men that approved the document that has been our foundation for well over two centuries? The fifty-five delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention were a distinguished body of men who represented a cross section of eighteenth-century American leadership. While they were an extraordinary collection of leaders, they also came representing a cross section of the colonists intent on creating a new nation. Some were wealthy, and some were not. Most were well schooled, yet they were from a variety of educational backgrounds.
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In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a coalition of Muslim states in northern Africa (Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, and Tripoli) carried out a sustained military campaign directed against the Christian nations of western Europe, specifically England, Spain, France, and Denmark. Essentially, this conflict was a continuation of a struggle that had originated in the days of the Crusades, and the Barbary Powers, as the Muslim nations were called, were determined to avenge past outrages against their faith. Unfortunately, American merchant vessels sailing the Atlantic were frequently caught in the crossfire of this conflict. Seeing
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Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggests the U.S. Constitution is not the best model for modern democracies to follow.

Ginsburg, traveling during the court’s break, addressed her remarks students at Cairo University while visiting with legislators and judges in Egypt. The Justice visit comes at the same time Egyptian officials are preparing to send to trial 19 American democracy and rights workers. In an interview with Al Hayat Television last Wednesday, Ginsburg said, “I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I…

In 1989, a bargain hunter purchased a frayed painting at a flea market for $4. You can imagine his surprise when the shopper later discovered an old copy of the Declaration of Independence tucked away between the canvas and the frame. But his surprise didn’t stop there. As it turned out, the find was one of only 200 official copies made at the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. This copy of our nation’s most iconic document was one of only twenty-five copies known to exist. The flea market purchase proved to be a
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Whenever people begin to talk about the Founding Fathers of our nation, they generally think in terms of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other such important figures of the Revolution. Of course, all of these deserve their place in our Parthenon of freedom, but two figures are all but forgotten by all but a relatively few academics. Jonathan Edwards was as unlikely a forbearer to the cause of a new nation as one can imagine. However, it was his stalwart preaching in New England that, along with George Whitefield, ushered in the First
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Introduction Some people claim that the religious faith of the Founding Fathers of the United States was deism — the view that God created the universe but does not or cannot take an active role in guiding the universe or interfering in the affairs of men.  This claim is completely false. It is time to
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