Category: Social History
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Abe’s Taxes
Yes, tomorrow is that day again — Tax Day. You can blame it on Abe Lincoln. Back in 1861 when the war began, President Abraham Lincoln could foresee problems in raising money to finance the war effort; at that time the only Federal income was through customs duties. It was then that Congress got into […]
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The Abolitionists: PBS American Experience
I just wanted to alert TOCWOC readers quickly of the next American Experience episode (or in this case three episodes), The Abolitionists. The first part debuts on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 in most markets, to be followed by parts 2 and 3 in succeeding weeks. I hope to have a short review up on the […]
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Race in 19th Century America
Race in 19th Century America By James W. Durney Article IV Section 2 of the Constitution provides for individuals held to service or labor contracts. “No Person held to Service or Labor in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such […]
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Was Justice Scalia wrong About Citizen Militias Having “Cannon” Under the Second Amendment?
In a recent interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News, Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the Court’s conservative justices (and one known for his support of citizen gun rights), said: Wallace: You wrote in 2008, the opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller, the majority opinion that said the Second Amendment means what it says, […]
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Short Takes
A large group of scholars and enthusiasts are gathering Tuesday at UNC Wilmington for a symposium on the remnants of the blockade runner Modern Greece. Sorry, it’s sold out. From the archives of the Manchester Guardian comes an editorial from 1861 about the impending “war to the knife” in the US. Like most of the […]
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Civil War Refugees
Civil War Refugees By Jack McGuire Until recently I rarely thought of refugees in connection to our Civil War. The battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, Chancellorsville, Antietam and Gettysburg on the other hand were to me, powerful remembrances of that conflict. Although once one takes into consideration battles don’t just randomly occur, that it required […]
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Short Takes
Did “Angels’ Glow” protect some wounded soldiers at Shiloh? How true were stories of wounds that actually glowed in the dark? More true than you might think. Some of the Shiloh soldiers sat in the mud for two rainy days and nights waiting for the medics to get around to them. As dusk fell the […]