Tag Archive for: History

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Something Amazing


Something amazing happened in St. Louis today. Barack Obama came to St. Louis to campaign and was met with a crowd of 100,000 people. According to The Wall Street Journal, it was the biggest event ever in the U.S. I’m so happy to see so much support for Obama in Missouri and I hope he wins the state in the upcoming election.

When looking at the above image there are many things that awe me. The size of the crowd is the most obvious. I’ve never seen that many people gather in St. Louis. The thing that awes me the most, that I feel a deep down sense of pride and amazement, is the building in the background. That white building with the greenish dome is The Old Court House. It was in that building that over 150 years ago a black man named Dred Scott fought for his right to be a free man. He won his initial freedom, but that was later overturned. Now, 150 years later, the U.S. is seeing its first African-American major party candidate for president. Hopefully this is just the beginning and we will see President Barack Obama. Today was truly a historic day.

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The Messiah, Part II

I found a very interesting article on Time’s website. The article talks about a tablet that has been found which talks about the rising of a messiah after three days in the grave.

A 3-ft.-high tablet romantically dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation” could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian Resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — it announces the raising of a messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus’ followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified. Keep reading at Time.com

Of course, if you know your history, or have seen the movie Zeitgeist, you’d know that the Christians took a lot of mythology from past religions and deities, including being born upon a virgin, the date of Jesus’ birth, the miracles he could perform, etc. If you’ve not watched the video, go watch it now.

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History Books

I’ve been craving some new history books lately. I really like early 20th Century American history. Topics that I’ve enjoyed reading about the most seem to be about business. The rise of advertising, franchising, and rise of an urban society interest me a great deal. I’ve read books about Franchising in America, the creation of American food in Selling ‘Em by the Sack, the story of American beer in Ambitious Brew and the Rise of Modern Business in Great Britain, the United States, and Japan.

Last night, I purchased a book called 1920: The Year of Six Presidents. I never knew that six men who were/would be Presidents of the United States ran in that election. It should be a very interesting book. Does anyone have any suggestions for some more reading regarding 20th Century American history?

Teddy Roosevelt Changes the American Language

In America we spell certain words a bit different. Colour is color, favour is favor, parlour is parlor. Have you ever wondered why? Well, I was reading a good book called One-night Stands with American History and found out the answer: President Theodore Roosevelt.

On August 27, 1906 T.R. decided to change the American language. Some changes were small and were quickly adopted by American dictionaries. Many words had silent vowels removed, such as the words I listed. Also changed were words like rumor, which was rumour. Some of the other changes were not as elegant and were not kept. For example, the word kissed became kist and blushed became blusht. As soon as Congress came back from their recess there was a great debate. Shortly after, T.R.’s changes were knocked down and the Government Printing Office was ordered to “observe and adhere to the standard of orthography prescribed in generally accepted dictionaries of the English language.” Of course, since the dictionaries had already adopted some of the new spellings, they stuck with us. I bet T.R. “blusht” when he heard he had been beaten.

SOURCE: Mark Sullivan, Our Times (New York: Scribner’s, 1930-36), IV, 162-90.

St. Louis History: I Challenge You to a Duel!

I haven’t made a history post in a while, so I thought I’d post another little known fact about St. Louis history.

On August 26, 1856 Benjamin Gratz Brown, a newspaper editor, future United States Senator, and future governor faced Thomas C. Reynolds, a United States district attorney and future lieutenant governor, on the field of honor. The duel was the outcome of several years of bitter political disagreements resulting from editorials published in the Missouri Democrat.

Brown strongly supported the emancipation of slaves and Reynolds sympathized with the slaveholders. The first planned duel was never fought because the near-sighted Reynolds could not agree to Brown’s choice of rifles at eighty paces.

A year passed, and tempers flared again. Brown accused Reynolds of not honoring the first challenge. Reynolds retaliated by “posting” Brown and publicly charging him with cowardice. Brown challenged and Reynolds accepted.

“But because dueling was now against the law in Missouri, the two men agreed to take boats to a small island in the Mississippi River, nicknamed “Bloody Island.” The two met in the morning and held their duel. But this was interesting in ways that we can’t understand in the 21st Century, it was truly an affair of honor,” said CEO of the Missouri Historical Society, Robert Archibald.

Brown was shot in the leg and limped for the rest of his life. Reynolds sustained no injuries.

Brown was elected to the United States Senate in 1863 and became Governor of Missouri in 1870. In 1872, he ran as the vice-presidential candidate on the ticket with Horace Greeley and lost to incumbent Ulysses S. Grant and Henry Wilson.

Reynolds was elected Lieutenant Governor of Missouri in 1860 and later served as second Confederate governor of Missouri.

Bloody Island continued to grow through the early 1800s and threatened to land-lock the levee and the harbor of St. Louis. So, the Army Corps of Engineers under Captain Robert E. Lee devised a system of dikes and dams that did away with the western channel and joined the Island to the Illinois shore. Throughout the nineteenth century, Bloody Island had been a popular rendezvous for duelists. The island appeared as dueling became popular in Missouri, and sank back into obscurity as pistols ceased to be an acceptable means of settling differences. (via KSDK)

Don’t you sometimes wish dueling was still legal? I could thing of a few people I’d like to challenge.