The Growth and Collapse of One American Nation, The Early Republic 1790-1861 By Donald J. Fraser Fraser & Associates, Roseville, California, 2020, 605 pp. A Book Review by Nancy Spannaus June 21, 2020—In examining the question of what defines an American identity, author Donald Fraser has chosen one of […]
By Nancy Spannaus Feb. 13, 2020—Yesterday my husband and I attended the commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday at the Lincoln Memorial for the third year in a row. The hour-long ceremony is hosted by the National Park Service and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States […]
By Nancy Spannaus December 26, 2019—It’s about time. Five prominent U.S. historians have come forward to challenge some egregious errors in the NY Times’ 1619 Project, a major intervention on the issue of American slavery’s role in the United States which the Times published in August of this year. The […]
By Bonnie James July 22, 2019–Abraham Lincoln gave the speech excerpted here, which came to be known as the “Electric Cord Speech,” as celebrations of the nation’s 82nd Independence Day were underway in 1858. Lincoln was then anticipating his Senate campaign against the “Little Giant,” Stephen A. Douglas. The famous […]
By Nancy Spannaus July 4, 2019—There was perhaps no more ardent supporter of the Declaration of Independence than Abraham Lincoln. He saw the Declaration as the moral foundation of the nation, upon which the Constitution was based. Thus, no matter how much the United States population fell short of its […]
By Nancy Spannaus June 30, 2019—A quick survey of the commentary on the recent Democratic presidential debates confirms that I am not the only person who was immediately struck by the contrast between these “sound-byte” events and the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858. But I believe that in this time […]
By Nancy Spannaus June 16, 2019—In my Internet scanning today, I happened to note that it is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech, which was given at the Illinois State Republican Convention in 1858. This was the convention which nominated Lincoln to run against Stephen Douglass for […]
Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10. By Nancy Spannaus May 11, 2019—When President Lincoln, in his Second Inaugural Address, spoke of the need to “bind up the nation’s wounds,” he was not specifically referring to his signature construction project, the Transcontinental Railroad. But in all […]
Part 2 of a series By Nancy Spannaus March 25, 2019—The most compelling historical argument for the need to restore the Hamiltonian American System is the fact that Hamilton’s economic system could have prevented the U.S. Civil War. I develop this argument in Chapter 10 of my book Hamilton Versus […]
By Nancy Spannaus* Oct. 14, 2020—The Oct. 2 release of Arthur Wilmarth’s new book calling for a new Glass-Steagall law is timely, and critical. Unfortunately, it is not clear that the relevant political figures are yet prepared to listen. Wilmarth’s book is entitled Taming the Megabanks: Why We Need a […]
September 19, 2020–I am pleased to announce that on September 23, I will challenge the myths about Alexander Hamilton in a lecture sponsored by the Treasury Historical Association (THA). My talk, addressed to the Treasury group via internet platform, will be based on my 2019 book Hamilton Versus Wall Street: […]
Frederick Douglass Commemorates Lincoln
By Nancy Spannaus April 14, 2020—On April 14, 1876, the great orator and champion of ending slavery, Frederick Douglass, keynoted the dedication of the Freedman’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. On this anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, I am reprinting the full commemorative speech below. The Freedman’s Memorial , also called […]