Thanksgiving - Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, the United States, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year.

Thanksgiving

Each year America has a holiday in November that has taken on almost a religious reverence which we call Thanksgiving. We give this holiday so much honor that it ranks with us along with Christmas and Easter as an important holiday in the hearts of family and as a nation. But this holiday, so rich with tradition, has it origins in the earliest days of the founding of this nation.

The Declaration of Independence

United States Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence

If you had to think of one document other than the Bible that people can most easily quote almost without thinking about it, that one document would be the Declaration of Independence. The comparison to the Bible is apt. Not that the Declaration of Independence is holy in a religious sense of the word. But it has a place of reverence in the hearts of the American people and in the history of the founding of this great nation.

Remember the Alamo

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States), killing all of the Texian defenders. 

Battle of the Alamo - Remember the Alamo

America remembers many great battles that represent a turning point in a conflict that helped shaped our history. We think of D-Day in World War II that turned the tide of victory toward the allies despite horrific losses. But it is a unique battle that is remembered with pride and patriotism but is also a battle that was lost and almost everybody on our side brutally killed. But that was the case in the battle for the Alamo in 1863.

The Cold War

The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc.

The Cold War

When we look back over the span of centuries that represents American history , it is easy to call out major military engagements which represent the major wars of this country. From World War II to the Civil War to Korea to World War I, America has been involved in many military engagements and emerged victorious in all but a few of them.  But one of the strangest, longest lasting wars that America has entered into was the one that was called The Cold War.

Saving Kuwait - Liberation of Kuwait

The Liberation of Kuwait was a U.S.-led military operation to retake Kuwait from Iraq after the massive air campaign, between 24–28 February 1991. 

Liberation of Kuwait campaign

The history of American use of its military forces, there are some stand out examples of how America considers its military might be a force for good and justice. And the use of military for a just cause can be beautifully illustrated in the way America came to the aid of an ally in the Gulf War of 1991. This war goes under a lot of names including Operation Desert Storm and the Liberation of Kuwait. But whatever title, it was a battle America needed to enter into because of an unjust invasion of an ally and an act of aggression we could not just stand by and let happen.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War , also known as the Second Indochina War and in Vietnam as the Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was a conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam

Vietnam War

In the annals of American history, there may be no other country name that evokes such emotion as the country of Vietnam. The history of this conflict is more than just a military struggle. The impact that the Vietnam conflict had on American culture and foreign policy for many decades to come makes it a truly watershed war in the life of a relatively young country.

The Civil War of America - American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war that was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. 

The Civil War

America has been part of some devastating battles over her long history.   World War I and World War II were tremendously difficult conflicts and ones that taxed the nationís resources to the maximum.  But none of those conflicts can compare to The Civil War not only for the brutality and devastation of human life but in the damage to social fabric that was caused by that terrible conflict.

America is proud that it has never had a battle on its native soil.  Other than Pearl Harbor and 911, we have never even been attacked on our own soil.  So it took a war of brother against brother, American against American to make even the possibility of war within the borders of America even possible.

The Legacy of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Born in the Republic of Genoa, under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. 

Christopher Columbus ;

The Legacy of Columbus

If you thought back to the first things you ever learned about the history of America, the one that jumps out is that Columbus sailed the ocean blue and discovered America is 1492 .  While the date is correct, we later learned when our study of history became more scholarly that there is some dispute about whether Columbus discovered America at all.  So what is the real legacy that this legend of Columbus has given to the American culture that has made him such a revered figure in cultural history ?

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson ; He was a draftsman of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; the nation's first secretary of state ; second vice president ; and, as the third president , the statesman responsible for the Louisiana Purchase .

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is one of those almost mythic figures from early American history that stand tall as one of the great heroes of the revolution and the early definition of what this country was going to become.  Sometimes it's easy to look at a figure that stands so tall in history and think, perhaps some of that is myth.  But when you look at the history of the times, he was every bit as great as our adoration of him suggests he was.

Thomas Jeffersonís service to the new American union lasted over fifty years.  He not only contributed to the core philosophical underpinnings upon which our democracy  based, he served in a variety of offices and made some phenomenal contributions to the developing country including.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin FRS FRSE was an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. 

Benjamin Franklin

Sometimes when a country is just getting organized , its citizens are considered to be uneducated, out of touch or primitive .  But exactly opposite was the truth when the great American experiment began to take shape .  The world did not see America as provincial or simple and that is due to a large part to the work of the man many that many have called him The First American.  That man was Benjamin Franklin.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

In the life of this great nation, a few of its presidents have emerged from the pack as truly historic and memorable even more than others.  Of course, the presidents from the generation of the founding fathers certainly fit that bill including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.  And presidents that served the country in times of great crisis also are deeply honored in memory.  But in recent memory, there probably no other president that brings up emotions of respect and admiration as much as that of John F. Kennedy.

George Washington

George Washington (1732-99) was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and served two terms as the first U.S. president, from 1789 to 1797. The son of a prosperous planter, Washingtonwas raised in colonial Virginia. 

George Washington

It is impossible to reflect on the truly great leadership that has been one of the real blessings of this nation without including the name of George Washington in that list.  In fact, in almost anyoneís ìtop tenî list of truly great presidents, Washington would almost certainly top the list.  His stature in American history is legendary and the respect Americans have for this their first president borders on adoration of myth.  

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States. He preserved the Union during the U.S. Civil War and brought about the emancipation of slaves.

Abraham Lincoln

We would like to think all of our presidents of the United States were truly great men and to be sure , just handling the awesome responsibility of the presidency takes a special kind of individual .  One of the unique and great things about the system of government in America is the concept of citizen leadership .  This is the idea of an ordinary citizen rising up and becoming president for a while and    
 .then returning to private life