Tag: American History

150 Years Ago Today

The nation is celebrating our 250th birthday and I would be remiss if I failed to include the anniversary 150 years, of the Little Big Horn….since my grandfather was full blood Choctaw he would haunt me if I neglect to stick to Custer.

A little history….

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, fought on June 25, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in Montana Territory, pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (1839-76) against a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. When a number of tribes missed a federal deadline to move to reservations, the U.S. Army, including Custer and his 7th Cavalry, was dispatched to confront them. Custer was unaware of the number of Indians fighting under the command of Sitting Bull (c.1831-90) at Little Bighorn, and his forces were outnumbered and quickly overwhelmed in what became known as Custer’s Last Stand.

https://www.history.com/articles/battle-of-the-little-bighorn

The day is important in American history….

On June 25, 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and an entire battalion of the 7th Cavalry Regiment rode to their deaths and into American legend on the ridges north of Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The battle was decided in a few hours. Its meaning remains contested 150 years later.

Little Bighorn stands alongside Yorktown, Gettysburg, and D-Day in the pantheon of iconic American battles. But it is a curious addition there, in that it was a small engagement, fought by just a few hundred men on a compact piece of terrain. More curiously still, it was a loss. Not just a loss — a disaster. And more than any other American battle, it has become identified with a single man. Most Americans know it not by its place, but by its protagonist: “Custer’s Last Stand.”

Relative to those multi-corps- and army-sized battlefields, its small scale and remarkable preservation make Little Bighorn an excellent staff ride for junior leaders, allowing participants to study leadership, terrain, and small-unit combat at a very human level. Yet the closer one looks at Little Bighorn, the larger it becomes.

https://warontherocks.com/the-importance-of-the-battle-of-the-little-bighorn/

The Nations that took part in the attack are doing a job on history so that the affair will not be forgotten.

The 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is weeks away, and tribal leaders are working to ensure their perspective of one of the most significant battles in American history is preserved and shared with the public.

Northern Cheyenne Tribal Vice President Assistant Eugene Little Coyote said the spot marks where four Cheyenne warriors and five Lakota warriors first engaged Custer’s troops on June 25, 1876. He named the four Cheyenne warriors as Bobtail Horse, Dull Knife, Roan Bear, and Calf.

Tribal leaders said the marker will explain how a small group of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors prevented the 7th Cavalry from crossing the river and reaching the nearby village.

“Had they not engaged them and stopped their advance across the river, Custer’s troops would have gotten into our villages and just killed a lot of people,” Little Coyote said. “So this was a pivotal moment at the beginning of this, the Custer side of the battle.”

Watch the story below:

The Nations took it to the ‘man’ (if he could be called that) and did what needed to be done.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”

A Historically Ignorant President

Our brainless Donny has a full schedule of ‘celebrations’ for our 250th anniversary….a UFC cage match. a street race, a county fair, etc etc etc…..all the mind numbing crap and little about what this country went through in that 250 years.

But what can we expect from a historically ignorant president?

Last week, Donald Trump’s rolling assault on the physical landscape of the capital set its sights on yet another historical landmark. The fountain in the World War II memorial, Trump declared, looked “in pretty bad shape on the bottom,” in need of a makeover “duplicating” that for the nearby Reflecting Pool, though “maybe with a slightly different color … a lighter blue.”

But as we head toward Trump-led celebrations of our country’s semiquincentennial featuring a UFC cage fight in a 5,000-person arena thrown up on the White House lawn, we need to recognize that his onslaught against our history has also extended far beyond the physical.

Not long ago, two watchdog groups sued the Trump administration over the White House’s internal guidance that email exchanges between executive branch officials could be peremptorily deleted, escaping preservation for the historical record. A blatant violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the memo leaned on a Justice  Department move declaring this act itself unconstitutional. While this time, a court then ruled in favor of the watchdogs, this administration’s efforts to vanish its own public record advance its sweeping campaign to expunge realities as well as richness from American history, to reduce it to tales of untethered “heroes” that will drain its democratic lifeblood.

In April, the Organization of American Historians convened its annual conference in Philadelphia. New York Times reporter Jennifer Schuessler described the tone of this gathering of American historians as “anxious.” This attendee felt a more widespread emotional undercurrent: anger. That feeling has been stirred far more by the Trump administration’s designs on American history than by other worries reported by Schuessler, including historians’ “declining authority” as growing numbers of Americans take up history telling via TikTok, YouTube, and other media that are available to everyone.

I, along with many other historians, am far less bothered by TikTok history than by the sheer scope and brazenness of this top-down White House–led assault on history.

https://newrepublic.com/article/211170/trump-250-commemorating-history-ignorant-president

As a political historian I am disgusted with the gaudy display of insensitivity shown by this idiot that claims to be a ‘stable genius’ and yet he cannot see past the infantile cheap tricks he calls ‘celebrations’.

Anything to say?

Something to think about../..this is how the 1876 celebrations went….

In the summer of 1876, the United States was preparing for its 100th birthday with patriotic celebrations. In its first century, the country had grown from 13 states to 37, with Colorado poised to become the 38th state weeks after July 4.

But while Americans felt proud, many were also worried. “The country was filled with anxiety for the future,”

https://www.history.com/articles/american-centennial-1876-celebrations

A little history goes a long way.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

As We Approach 250 Years

Soon we will be celebrating this country’s 250th year in existence (some say it may be the last celebration we have)…and since moist Americans are completely ignorant about our history I thought I would do my part to try and help them understand our history and why we did the things we did.

One of the best summations of our collective history was done by US Military Academy historian, Maj. Danny Sjursen…..I include his series here from the very early days to the election of Barack Obama…it is a lot to take in but it does give a complete background to the events that made this country.

If you truly love this country then I suggest to read these and see just why….

Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10; Part 11; Part 12; Part 13; Part 14; Part 15; Part 16; Part 17; Part 18; Part 19; Part 20; Part 21; Part 22; Part 23; Part 24; Part 25; Part 26; Part 27; Part 28; Part 29; Part 30; Part 31; Part 32; Part 33; Part 34; Part 35 ; Part 36.

There is also another source that makes for excellent learning…..Howard Zinn’s , A People’s History Of The United States, can be found everywhere and especially on Amazon.

I want everyone to know our history all the good, the bad and the ugly for all of it is what made us what we were.

Please let me know what you thought of the series.

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“Lego ergo scribo”

The Worst President Ever

Now I could go on a diatribe about Donny referencing his many fuck ups but his last chapter has not been written yet.

And now time for the old professor to drop some history.

The worst president to many political historians was Buchanan the 15th president of the United States.

Historians often label James Buchanan as one of the worst presidents in United States history. His presidency was marked with conflict, a conflict that had been brewing for over thirty years. Yet, Buchanan’s actions, and at times his inactions, aggravated sectional tensions to the point where the Union dissolved.

James “Old Buck” Buchanan was born to wealthy Irish immigrants on April 23, 1791, in rural Cove Gap, Pennsylvania.   He entered Dickinson College at the age of 16, two years later he graduated with honors. After his graduation in 1809, Buchanan studied law and as his legal career grew so did his political one. Buchanan served in a reserve unit during the War of 1812 and did not experience any combat, and shortly after the war, the Old Buck served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature before his election to serve in the United States House of Representatives from 1821 until 1831, where he sat on the House Judiciary Committee.

…
Buchanan’s presidency was marred with conflict; however, one of the most significant events of his presidency began to unfold even before his inauguration. At the heart of the Dred Scott v. Stanford case was the status of slavery in the territories, an issue that had plagued American politics since the Missouri Compromise. Buchanan desperately hoped that the Supreme Court would unequivocally settle this massive issue before his inauguration in March of 1857. In violation of presidential ethics, on February 3, 1857, the president-elect began corresponding with Justice John Catron of Tennessee. Buchanan inquired as to when the country would learn about a decision and if the decision would be narrowly focused or broad. In his response, Catron did not answer as to when a decision would be handed down but did mention that the territorial question would be involved. On February 23, 1857, Justice Robert Grier of Pennsylvania responded to an earlier letter of Buchanan and tipped him off to the coming decision, writing “six if not seven will declare that the compromise law of 1820 to be non-effect.” With this prior knowledge in his inaugural address, Buchanan referred to Dred Scott as a decision that would “speedily and finally” resolve all questions about slavery in the territories, and he would “cheerfully submit to that decision.”

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/james-buchanan

There is more if you are interested…..

Read more about the worst presidential scandals.

Read more about the Worst Presidents methodology.

Donny may one day be known for nothing other than feeding his own ego but until then Buchanan is still the worst president.

I know most people could care less about our history and that should be a shame for we are where we are today because ignorance has prevailed.

Any opinions?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Past Constitutional Amendments

Let’s have some fun and learn something.

You got it!  The Old Professor is going to drop some history that most have no idea about.

How well do you know your history of this country?  (Purely rhetorical because most know little to nothing)

There has been numerous amendments considered to the Constitutional but we shot down….but what would this country look like if they had passed?

The United States Constitution had been in effect for little more than a year when Congress first moved to amend it. On September 25, 1789, the legislature sent a dozen proposed amendments to the then-13 states (soon to be 14) for ratification, as the law required. By December 15, 1791, the necessary three-fourths of states had ratified 10 of the 12 amendments, which collectively became known as the Bill of Rights.

Another 17 amendments have been ratified in the 234 years since, for a total of 27. But these measures represent just a tiny fraction of the amendments that have been proposed in Congress over the years—nearly 12,000 to date.

“The U.S. Constitution was intended to be amended,” writes historian Jill Lepore in her new book, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution. However, “almost all efforts to amend the Constitution fail. Success often takes decades. And for long stretches of American history, amending the Constitution has been effectively impossible.”

Most proposed amendments die quietly in congressional committees (if they even get that far), with only a few sent on to the states for ratification. At present, there are six proposed amendments awaiting possible state ratification—one of them dating back to 1789.

Many failed amendments have involved fairly minor administrative matters. But others would have changed the American government in substantial ways and possibly altered the course of history.

Here are a dozen of those failed amendments and what they set out to accomplish.

In 1866, Missouri Representative George Washington Anderson proposed dropping “United States” from the country’s name and simply calling it “America.” The current name was “not sufficiently comprehensive and significant to indicate the real unity and destiny of the American people as the eventual, paramount power of this hemisphere,” he argued, albeit unsuccessfully.

Weighing in from across the Atlantic, the Illustrated London News mocked the proposal as the “verbal appropriation of a hemisphere.”

Just one hemisphere wasn’t enough for Lucas Miller, a first-term representative from Wisconsin. On a single February day in 1893, he introduced 46 bills, one of which would have changed the country’s name to the “United States of the Earth.”

Miller’s rationale, in his own words, was that “it is possible for the republic to grow through the admission of new states into the union, until every nation on earth has become part of it.” Another source suggests that he might also have settled for the “United States of the World.” Miller’s proposal was widely ridiculed at the time, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the congressman didn’t return for a second term.

(Read On)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/twelve-failed-constitutional-amendments-that-could-have-reshaped-american-history-180987425/

There are a couple that would apply to the situation today….

Abolishing the Senate….not bad should be considered because the Senate is where good bills go to die.

Numbers 8 and 9 deserve consideration…

Numbers 10 -12 should already be part of the Constitution….

If you read the article then I would like to hear your thoughts on these past proposed amendments to our Constitution.

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Class Dismissed

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Evil We Embrace

Note:  This was draft I was saving for when the country gets into the meat of the next election but my blogging buddy, Judy Thompson, over at https://sayitnow.wordpress.com/ asked a question about political parties whether there should be a 3rd or maybe none at all….so I decide to answer her with this post (it will be back during the next election).

College of Political Knowledge

American Politics And The Process

Paper #1

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

― George Washington

George was a sharp person and foresaw the problems these ‘parties’ will cause and yet the people flock to these unprincipled ‘people’ en masse.
“Evil’….yep the party system is evil look what it has done and continues to do this country.
I have been write against the whole two party system for decades….I feel that this country as long as it embraces this stupidity is doomed to failure.
Look what these monstrosities have done to the political system of this nation…they have made the divide deeper and more dangerous….they seldom deliver the needed programs and policies to keep this country moving forward….the candidates promise the world and deliver crumbs

Like many Americans, I have been increasingly disappointed by the candidates promoted by political parties because they tend to back candidates who are ultimately focused on personal gain and/or only advancing issues predetermined by party priorities while moving further away from responding to the needs of their constituents. According to The Guardian, in the 2024 election, the number of eligible voters who did not cast their ballot is more than the total of those who voted for either of the party candidates. So, maybe the real issue is that our political party system just isn’t working for most Americans anymore. Assuming this is even partially true, what if, instead of just complaining about the parties or holding our noses and voting for the “lesser evil” every November, we actually fired the parties—took away their grip on our democracy and built something better.

For decades, we’ve been told we only have two choices. But more and more Americans don’t feel truly represented by either major party. We’re exhausted by the noise, the blame games, the endless culture wars that solve nothing and only serve to increasingly marginalize portions of our citizenry. Americans want real solutions on housing, healthcare, education, wages, and the future we’re leaving for the next generation. And we’re not getting them. So, maybe it’s time to ask a radical but necessary question: What if the problem isn’t just the candidates but the political party system that keeps producing them?

The Case for Firing the Parties

A. They Were Never Supposed to Be Permanent

Political parties aren’t mentioned anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. The Founders didn’t design a system based on organized political factions. In fact, they explicitly warned against it. George Washington, in his 1796 farewell address, foretold that political parties would eventually “become potent engines” for individuals to seize and abuse power, dividing citizens and distracting the government from serving the public good. In a letter written by John Adams in 1780, he regarded the division of the republic into two great parties as “to be dreaded as the greatest political evil.” In a 1789 letter from Thomas Jefferson, he wrote: “If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.”

Yet political parties arose almost immediately after the Constitution was ratified. These early versions of political parties formed largely out of necessity to organize debates and mobilize voters. Political parties were tools for winning elections. But over time, the tool began to control the system itself. Today, parties aren’t just optional organizers of ideas, they have become gatekeepers of power, often more loyal to themselves than to the people they claim to serve.

https://thefulcrum.us/bipartisanship/dangers-of-two-party-system

Our political system without these beasts would be more open and would promote collaboration between the politicians without the restraints of some silly party mechanism.

Gerrymandering would not be an issue….

I say the sooner we get rid of these thugs the sooner this country will return to its place as the trend setter for democracy.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Donny Changes Presidents

During his first presidency Donny was all a tither over Andrew Jackson….I think because Jackson loved being a bully….and now in his second term Donny has a new idol, McKinley.

In his first term, President Trump’s favorite commander-in-chief, other than himself, was Andrew Jackson, the hatchet-faced, self-made populist who relished turning Washington upside down. Now he’s partial to the barrel-chested, unfailingly polite William McKinley, a champion of American expansionism as well as of tariffs, Trump’s favorite second-term policy. Trump’s shift, rather than merely swapping one infatuation for another, demonstrates how his mindset and priorities have evolved, the AP reports. The Republican president’s admiration for McKinley fits with his current politics, which are different from when Trump first took office in 2017. A key political target for Trump back then was the elites, which his administration predicted might crumble in the face of a Jackson-like working class uprising.

In his second inaugural address, Trump lauded McKinley as a “natural businessman” who “made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent.” Trump used a Day 1 order to restore the name of North America’s tallest peak to Mount McKinley and he has repeatedly named-checked the 25th president more recently, while his weighty tariffs have left the world bracing for the kind of trade war not seen since the days of the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890. The White House says the shift isn’t a departure from Trump’s first-term goals, but simply his leaning harder into new tools—in this case, tariffs—to achieve them.

“President Trump has never wavered from his commitment to putting working-class Americans above special interests, and his channeling of President McKinley’s tariffs agenda is indicative of how he is using every lever of executive power to deliver for the American people,” said spokesman Kush Desai. The president’s Jacksonian impulses aren’t all dormant. He imposed some first-term tariffs and now is shaking up Washington with his efforts to slash the federal workforce and stock the bureaucracy with loyalists. He’s also prioritized antagonizing “elites” at Ivy League universities and top law firms.

(Click for more, including the other side of McKinley’s tariffs that Trump doesn’t mention.)

He adores McKinley because basically of tariffs…..but McKinley mismanaged so many things during his tenure as leader of the ‘free world’….

It is true that the self-styled “tariff man”—his political opponents preferred the more derisive “Napoleon of protection”—was the biggest public face of mercantilism during America’s high-tariff era of 1870–1912. As a congressman, he wrote what came to be known as the “McKinley tariff” of 1890, and as president he signed another increase in 1897.

But a funny thing happened after the U.S. came out of the Panic (and subsequent four-year depression) of 1893: Goosed by sharp increases in domestic iron and copper production, Americans had too many goods chasing too few consumers. And McKinley himself began agitating to tear down some of those trade barriers

“What we produce beyond our domestic consumption must have a vent abroad,” he said in September 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. “The excess must be relieved through a foreign outlet, and we should sell everywhere we can, and buy wherever the buying will enlarge our sales and productions, and thereby make a greater demand for home labor. The period of exclusiveness is past,” he continued. “The expansion of our trade and commerce is the pressing problem. Commercial wars are unprofitable….If perchance some of our tariffs are no longer needed, for revenue or to encourage and protect our industries at home, why should they not be employed to extend and promote our markets abroad?”

McKinley’s presidency was ended by an assassin’s bullet the very next day.

Even before his late-life pivot to freer trade, McKinley had long been a champion of reciprocity, i.e., the bilateral, mutually beneficial reduction of targeted, asymmetrical tariffs. Or, as he put it in his first inaugural address, “the opening up of new markets for the products of our country, by granting concessions to the products of other lands that we need and cannot produce ourselves, and which do not involve any loss of labor to our own people, but tend to increase their employment.”

https://reason.com/2025/04/06/trump-is-wrong-about-mckinleys-tariff-legacy/

Who will get the nod next year?

He picks the worse to emulate….but that is always expected…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Was There A Successful Slave Revolt In US?

These days there is a war in education and especially history…..the current mad man in the White House is actively trying to rewrite history in support of his lame ass “America First” agenda.

So since I do like my history I want to keep actual facts flowing for as long as I can….who knows if I can continue…..

This portion is about the most successful slave revolt in thew US….known as the Creole Mutiny…

The Creole Mutiny/Creole Rebellion (1841) was an insurrection aboard the brig Creole on 7 November 1841 during which 19 enslaved men (of the 135 men, women, and children held as slaves on board), led by Madison Washington, took the ship by force. The Creole had been sailing from Virginia to the slave markets in New Orleans, but, after its seizure by Washington and his men, it was redirected to the British territory of the Bahamas, where, since Britain had by this time abolished slavery, they were set free.

The Creole Mutiny/Creole Rebellion is considered the most successful slave revolt in US history, but it has been overshadowed by the more widely known Amistad Seizure of 1839 and the famous court case that followed. The Amistad Seizure was the direct inspiration for the Creole Mutiny, as it is well-established that Madison Washington knew the details of that event and was a great admirer of the Amistad rebel leader Sengbe Pieh (better known as Joseph Cinque). Since he already had the paradigm of the Amistad Seizure in mind prior to the Creole setting sail for New Orleans, it is thought that Washington planned his insurrection while still confined in the Virginia slave pens, chose the men he knew he could trust, and, when the right moment presented itself, was prepared to strike.

Although the US government petitioned for the return of the 130 slaves (five decided to remain on board and were later sold as slaves in New Orleans), they were considered free by the British government and established themselves in the Bahamas and Jamaica.

Years later, the United Kingdom financially compensated the United States for the slaves, but this did nothing to quell the outrage of the US government and pro-slavery factions in 1841 who saw the success of the Creole Mutiny – which had depended significantly on Britain upholding their anti-slavery laws – as a direct threat to the institution of slavery in the USA. Like the Amistad Seizure and John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859), the Creole Mutiny further increased tensions between the slave states and free states in the years leading up to the American Civil War.

https://www.worldhistory.org/Creole_Mutiny/

Some things should never be forgotten no matter how much Donny hates them….and we all should know our history not some jacked up bullshit from a bunch of white supremacists.

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“lego ergo scribo”

Labor Day 2025

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Labor Day.

The day set aside for Americans to remember and celebrate labor (but unfortunately it is more about a long weekend for partying and such and less about the plight of the American worker)

As a past labor organizer for the IWW I am always looking at the history of Americans standing up and demanding more recognition of the worker and the services they provide for the society.

I also enjoy my history and the history of labor in our early days is significant and should be remembered….too many for forgotten the struggles of the past to win rights for workers….

This is a re-post of a writing from IST in 2009 about those early days….

Labor Movement–The Early Years

It is good for us to remember the early days and maybe that will help us work on a better future for American labor.

This is a letter written in 1899…..and it makes good points about the day and what it means….

https://wordpress.com/reader/feeds/134452904/posts/5786641240

Now if you are one that takes Labor issues to heart there is protest today all over the country and if you feel like it join in…..there is one near you….

Unions and progressive organizations are planning nearly 1,000 “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstrations across the United States this Labor Day to protest President Donald Trump’s assault on workers’ rights.

The day of national action has been organized by the May Day Strong coalition, which includes labor organizations like the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, and National Union of Healthcare Workers, as well as advocacy groups like Americans for Tax Fairness, Indivisible, Our Revolution, and Public Citizen.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/workers-over-billionaires-protests

Help bring attention to the shoddy treatment of Labor by the president and the soul-less SOBs, the corporations.

In closing a song by John Lennon….it is so true if you listen to the words….

This will be my only post for today for we down here are still in the remembrance of Katrina from 20 years ago.

If you are heading out for some good times with friends and family please be careful and plan ahead if you think that a ‘good time’ will be had….

Enjoy the day and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Gilded Age–Second Coming

We know how much I like history and what it can teach us about our future…..so without further ado….

Before we jump into today’s economics we need to step back and take a look at the first Gilded Age….

The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth and industrialization that lasted from the late 1870s until the early 1900s. It was characterized by extreme inequality; the wealthy, including the famous robber barons, experienced high levels of prosperity, while the working classes experienced extreme poverty and labor exploitation.

Key Takeaways

  • The Gilded Age was an era of American history that lasted from the late 1870s until the early 1900s. It was characterized by extreme wealth inequality and industrialization.
  • Major changes during the Gilded Age included the movement from agriculture to industry, shifts from rural to urban living, women’s entry into the labor force, and westward migration.
  • Immigration increased during the Gilded Age, while Black populations migrated north and west in pursuit of economic opportunity and land ownership.
  • The life-threatening working conditions and economic devastation of the working classes partly fueled the rapid industrialization and innovation of the Gilded Age.
  • The rise of investigative journalism, progressive ideologies, and organized labor eventually undermined the Gilded Age’s rigid class structures and exploitation.

https://www.investopedia.com/gilded-age-7692919

Does any of that sound familiar….the inequality, the working class suffers, the ‘Robber Barons’…..any of it?

“Trump’s golden age looks an awful lot like a new Gilded Age,” wrote Politico this month, reflecting on the second inauguration of the United States’ president, prominently attended by tech billionaires. The day after that inauguration, historian Beverly Gage “couldn’t stop thinking about the Gilded Age” and its “rapid technological change as well as stark inequality, corporate graft and violent clashes between workers and bosses”.

But what was the Gilded Age – and does the comparison hold up?

The term, which spans the 1870s–1890s, came from an 1873 novel by celebrated satirist Mark Twain, The Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day, co-written with journalist and neighbour Charles Dudley Warner. It meant a nation that glittered from its growth and the accumulation of economic power by the extremely wealthy. The title referenced Shakespeare’s King John, in which the Earl of Salisbury states, “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily […] is wasteful and ridiculous excess” (Act IV, scene 2).

Trump himself has cited this era as an aspiration. “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept,” Trump said, days after taking office. “It’s fine. It’s OK. But it would have been very much better.”

Experts on the era, however, say he is idealising “a time rife with government and business corruption, social turmoil and inequality”, and “dramatically overestimating” the role of tariffs.

“The most astonishing thing for historians is that nobody in the Gilded Age economy – except for the very rich – wanted to live in the Gilded Age economy,” said Richard White, emeritus professor of history at Stanford University.

early 1870s was full of gilded lilies – a period of wasteful excess, shady dealing in business, and political corruption.

The year 1872 saw a massive scandal over the railroads’ influence in politics, after “a sham construction company”, Crédit Mobilier, had been chartered to build the Union Pacific Railroad “by financing it with unmarketable bonds”.

Representative Oakes Ames of Massachusetts sold the shares at bargain rates to high-ranking House colleagues to secure political clout for the company. While most sold them quickly, representative James Brooks of New York (also a government director for Union Pacific Railroad) profited from a large block of shares.

Ames and Brooks were censured by the House in 1873 for using their political position for financial gain. The Crédit Mobilier Scandal, as it was called, became nationwide news.

The Gilded Age satirised such blatant pursuit of wealth. Its story centred around the members of the fictional Hawkins family, trying to get rich by selling their essentially worthless land in Tennessee under false pretences that misrepresented its value. The novel employs pathos as well as satire. An adopted daughter, Laura Hawkins, kills her married lover. She is tried and acquitted, but before her death, she feels guilty about her past behaviour.

https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2010/03/Trump-presidency-compared-gilded-age

Our first Gilded Age was so bad it brought on the Progressive era…..we should be so lucky this time around.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”