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What did Jefferson Really Buy?
When the Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase on October 20th, 1802, no one in Washington really knew what the country bought for $15,000,000. The boundaries were not well defined and…
Read MoreFinancing the Louisiana Purchase
The new United States of America had a Mississippi River problem because in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Britain was guaranteed access to the river that ran down the middle…
Read MoreJefferson’s Big Land Buy
Even before the U.S. had “digested” the land the fledgling United States acquired from England through the Treaty of Paris, its third president, Thomas Jefferson wanted more land. Known as…
Read MoreOrigin of the Scope of the First Amendment
During the years before the American Revolution and throughout the nine year-long conflict, our Founding Fathers had the support of most of the newspapers in the Thirteen Colonies. The Stamp…
Read MoreDifficulties Enforcing the Treaty of Paris
Once the Treaty of Paris became effective on May 12th, 1784, the Second Continental Congress now faced the challenge of enforcing its terms. The Articles of Confederation did not give…
Read MoreFreeing Georgia and South Carolina
Under the Royal Governor, James Wright, the British had pacified much of the Royal Province of Georgia, particularly the southern portion of the state along the coast. The British had…
Read MoreChasing Cornwallis Out of the Carolinas
When Cornwallis marched out of Charleston, SC on January 7th, 1781, he began what became the beginning of the end of the major fighting in the American Revolution. Washington gets…
Read MoreIndependence Equals Freedom to Expand Westward
The Treaty of Paris that granted the Thirteen Colonies independence also set our country’s initial boundaries. The new United States encompassed all the British territory south of the Canadian border…
Read MoreThomas Barclay and America’s Longest Standing Treaty
On June 26th, 1786, Sidi Mohammed ibn Abdullah (Mohammed III), the Sultan of Morocco, was the first to sign the 25 article Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the United…
Read MoreGeorge Washington’s Spymaster
Most Americans know about the traitor Benedict Arnold and even his contact Major John Andre, the head of the British Army’s intelligence service in North America. Few of those reading…
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