General Hull served bravely in the American Revolution but was a scared shell of a man in the War of 1812. He allowed himself to be bamboozled by General Brock and even more so by Tecumseh. He was terrified of the Indians.   Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrate America's Constitution. Express your thoughts, get published on WWTFT, and get free book! We're celebrating Constitution Day all week, next week. We hope you'll join us!   Read the rest of this entry »

In his new book, Michael Newton uses a different lens with which to view the revolutionary generation. Through it the reader sees what may have been missed before.   Read the rest of this entry »

A letter in which Alexander Hamilton recalls some of the events of the Constitutional Convention, and defends himself against charges that he is a monarchist.   Read the rest of this entry »

In Federalist 21, Hamilton covers three topics. The government under the Articles of Confederation was incapable of enforcing its own laws, neither could it offer any protection to States against usurpation of local power by malignant factions. Finally, advocates of a VAT tax might have a look at this Federalist essay. Hamilton argues that the only way for the Federal government to function is to give it the right to collect taxes directly from the people, largely (but not exclusively) in the form of consumption taxes. It is interesting to note that he does not preclude the collection of property taxes.   Read the rest of this entry »

A First Rate Madness is a book written for the layman, but contains an impressive bibliography and research notes. The author clearly intends to maintain his scholarly creds, while appealing to a broader audience. In this, he succeeds. In his thesis, not so much.   Read the rest of this entry »

The sad case of Captain Barron and Stephen Decatur, concluded.   Read the rest of this entry »

The Life and Character of Stephen Decatur is interesting as a reflection of the time in which it was written. It was published not long after Decatur's death, and was sufficiently popular to merit a second edition (reviewed here).   Read the rest of this entry »

Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt is an extremely intellectual and philosophical analysis of the growth of the nanny state. Gottfried's thesis is that western governments have built upon a bastardized version of protestant beliefs to incorporate them into the education and acculturation of the citizenry. It's not an easy book to read, but one filled with insights and things that force the reader to think.   Read the rest of this entry »

Part 1 of an interesting side story surrounding the Leopard and Chesapeake.   Read the rest of this entry »