Category Archives: American Society

holiday for the homes

In October 1868 President Andrew Johnson proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving on November 26th, the last Thursday of the month. This continued a tradition begun five years earlier by Abraham Lincoln. In its November 28, 1868 issue Harper’s Weekly … Continue reading

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Boston at New York

From my growing up I had heard about Zouave units associated with the American Civil War but didn’t know much more about it. According to Wikipedia it wasn’t until 1859 that Zouaves were brought to the American public attention when … Continue reading

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Lincoln memorial

In its February 10, 1918 issue the New York Tribune published a page of photos commemorating Abraham Lincoln, probably to honor the sixteenth president’s 109th birthday (February 12th): In a February 13, 1918 article from Petersburg The New-York Times reported … Continue reading

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hate speech?

Some people, who attended a memorial service for Abraham Lincoln in Wrentham, Massachusetts on the day of his Washington, D.C. funeral, weren’t too happy with what they saw when they left church. From The New-York Times December 30, 1867: Damages … Continue reading

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with a little help from the men

On November 6, 1917 New York State voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that allowed women the right to vote in all elections in the state. A large New York City majority in favor of the amendment offset … Continue reading

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work song

An American trio … Labor is one of the great elements of society – the great substantial interest on which we all stand. Not feudal service, or predial toil, or the irksome drudgery by one race of mankind subjected, on … Continue reading

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family reunion

This is the Showing forth of the Inquiry of Herodotus of Halicarnassos, to the end that neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works great and marvellous, which have been produced some by … Continue reading

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hot stove

I embrace hibernation. Reconstruction lacks the excitement of the combined naval-infantry assault on Fort Fisher (already a year ago), and it’s harder to find material. I might be historied out, but lying dormant for a bit sure seems good to … Continue reading

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poll watchers

Men vote today as women watch Only going back 100 years for this one. On Election Day in 1915 women’s suffrage was on the ballot in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York. It was voted down in all three states. ________________________________________________________________ … Continue reading

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new American revolution?

In a long 1777 letter to the Committee of Secret Correspondence Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane, American Commissioners in Paris, wrote the following optimistic assessment of Europe’s regard for America and its rebel cause: Tyranny is so generally established in … Continue reading

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