By Nancy Spannaus Jan. 17, 2021—While much of the nation celebrates Martin Luther King. Jr. on this weekend, my mind also goes to another American fighter for the common good, Founder Benjamin Franklin. (1706-1790) Today is the 315th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s birth. Franklin was the quintessential organizer of our […]
by Edward Spannaus John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court, a film written by Richard Brookhiser and Leo Eaton, and directed by Leo Eaton. Eaton Creative, Inc., 2020. Running time: 2 hours, 26 minutes. Available on Amazon Prime. Richard Brookhiser, John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme […]
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 […]
A Book Review by Nancy Spannaus No Property in Man: Slavery and Antislavery at the Nation’s Founding Sean Wilentz Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2018, 349 pp. March 5, 2019—I can say without hesitation that anyone writing about the history of slavery in the United States should read […]
American Dialogue: The Founders and Us, by Joseph J. Ellis. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. 283 pp. Reviewed by Edward Spannaus , November 29, 2018 This is both an ambitious and a provocative book. Joseph Ellis, who taught college-level American history for decades, takes the major debates among the […]
The sixth and final article in the series “The Supreme Court Affirms the American System.” Sept. 17, 2018–We publish this article today to commemorate Constitution Day, the 231st anniversary of the signing of the founding document of the United States of America. It was Supreme Court Justice John Marshall who […]
by Edward Spannaus Fifth of a series. The first four parts of this series, devoted to “John Marshall and the American System” can be found here. July 23, 2018–With the help of American System champion Henry Clay and his supporters, John Quincy Adams was elected President in early 1825, after […]
By Edward Spannaus Update, January 21, 2021–I’m told that my 2018 article on the pardon power has, understandably, been getting a lot of “views” in the past few days. When I wrote that article, President Trump seemed to be moving toward a more liberal use of pardons in the interests […]
By Edward Spannaus Part One- Marshall’s Supreme Court Affirms American System Part Two- Creating Legal Infrastructure for a National Economy Part Three- Virginia’s Assault on the Marshall Court Part Four- Steamboat Case Clears Way for the American System Part Five – Marshall Defends the American System against Jacksonian Populism. […]
By Nancy Spannaus April 5, 2021—I was very happy to see the recent article by Oren Cass of the American Compass, entitled “We’re Just Speculating Here…, The Rise of Wall Street and the Fall of American Investment.” In a lengthy footnoted piece, replete with informative graphics, Cass documents the ways […]
By Nancy Spannaus March 22, 2021—Over the last two days, two prominent advocates for Alexander Hamilton have come forward to defend Hamilton’s legacy as a visionary statesman, including against the charges that he was an “enslaver.” These important initiatives came from Douglas Hamilton, Hamilton’s fifth-great-grandson, who directly took on the […]
Happy Birthday, Frederick Douglass
by Nancy Spannaus Feb. 14, 2021—Being born enslaved, Frederick Augustus Bailey never could be sure of his birth day, or even year. Ultimately, as he chose a new last name, Frederick Douglass also chose the date of his birth to be February 14, 1818. Thus, today it is appropriate to […]