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That armor was as strong as ever. The Coinage Act of 1873 pleased bondholders and bankers, the well-to-do, by making gold the monetary standard, completely eliminating silver as a standard. But farmers and working people, debtors of all types—“those who labor under all the hardships of life,” in Madison’s words—were infuriated by the “Crime of ’73,
... See moreRobert A. Caro • Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III
The third was the ultimate political weapon: Alfred Emanuel Smith.
Robert A. Caro • The Power Broker
Hobbes’s Leviathan,
David Graeber • The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
But in the case of Andrew Jackson it may be that I felt a special sense of individual isolation; for I believe that there are even fewer among Englishmen than among Americans who realise that the energy of that great man was largely directed towards saving us from the chief evil which destroys the nations to-day. He sought to cut down, as with a sw
... See moreG. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton • What I Saw in America
The eye frequently does not discover a man of celebrity within its walls. Its members are almost all obscure individuals whose names present no associations to the mind: they are mostly village lawyers, men in trade, or even persons belonging to the lower classes of society.
Alexis de Tocqueville • Democracy in America, Volume I and II (Optimized for Kindle)
Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, articulated one of the clearest assertions about “good government” consistent with the spirit of the Declaration.
“…a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall n
... See moreMoreover, Harriet Stowe had made a black man her hero, and she took his race seriously, and no American writer had done that before. The fundamental fault, she fervently held, was with the system. Every white American was guilty, the Northerner no less than the slaveholder, especially the churchgoing kind, her kind.
David McCullough • Brave Companions
Many men dreamed at last of establishing above the cities a sort of sovereign power, which should look to the maintenance of order, and compel those turbulent little societies to live in peace. It was thus that Phocion, a good citizen, advised his compatriots m accept the authority of Philip, and promised them, at this price, concord and security.
Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges • The Ancient City: A Study of the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome (Illustrated)
“cliometrics” or economic history.