Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Blitzkrieg

2007-04-29T05:12:01Z

Paddymc68: grammar/usage

A '''blitzkrieg''' is an operational level military doctrine which calls for a quick surprise attack by massive ground and air forces. "Blitzkrieg" is from the German words for lighting ("''blitz''") and war ("''krieg''"). The term was not used by [[Germany|German]] military planners, and had its origins at the Propaganda Ministry of Josef Goebbels. It was used in press accounts to describe the lightning speed of the German military during [[World War II]]. Modern American "Shock and Awe" doctrine is based upon the lessons of blitzkrieg.

==Before World War II==

Colonel John Fuller, the chief of staff of the British Tank Corps, is credited with developing this tactic after his extreme disappointment with the effect of tanks during World War I. His ideas, which were ignored by the British Army, called for long-range mass tank attacks. He envisioned this attack to be supported by air power as well as motorized infantry and artillery support. He wrote two books in the Twenties which detailed his ideas: ''Reformation of War'' and ''Foundation of the Science of War''. In 1926, the German Army began ordering tanks and vehicles which would allow them to impliment Colonel Fuller's ideas. <ref>http://www.lycos.com/info/blitzkrieg--german-wehrmacht.html?page=2</ref><ref>http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWblitzkreig.htm</ref>

In 1937 Heinz Guderian wrote the book ''Achtung - Panzer!'' describing the combined arms tactics used initially by the Germans in WWII and later on by armies throughout the world. The Germans tested an application of these tactics in 1938 during the [[Spanish Civil War]] and as a result [[German High Command]] formulated plans to dismantle Polish defenses in 1939. <ref>http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9068990/Spanish-Civil-War</ref>

==During World War II==

Blitzkrieg was a maneuver tactic where armored columns would break through the enemy lines, supported by artillery and attack aircraft. Once the columns were through the line, they would not stop but continue into the enemy rear, disrupting their supply lines and cutting off units. The armored columns were followed by infantry units that would exploit the gaps and surround the isolated enemy units. The tactic worked most effectively in Europe against the French and the Netherlands, and in the beginning of the conflict against the Soviet Union. It's success was due to a combination of surprise and favorable terrain.

There was three flaws to the Blitzkrieg tactic. First, it was heavily dependent on good weather and good terrain. If the terrain was hilly, combat was in an urban area, or if the weather turned the ground muddy (as in the Soviet Union), the armored units would slow down and become vulnerable to anti-tank units.

Second, air support was vital. Without it, the tanks were vulnerable to counter-attacks from enemy aircraft. As the war progressed and the Germans lost control of the air, their panzer units suffered heavy losses from Allied air-to-ground aircraft such as the Soviet IL-2 and American P-47 Thunderbolt.

Third, the blitzkrieg could be broken up by channeling the attack (holding the flanks) and attacking the point where the infantry and armored units met. This would separate the two and expose the armor to counter-attacks. The French and British used this tactic at the [[Battle of Arras]] in 1940, but lacked the armored units required to exploit their limited success.

The Soviets used all the above and had the additional fortune of vast swaths of land to design a defense-in-depth. As the panzer units moved farther and farther from their supplies, gaps would appear in their columns. These could then be attacked to break up the armor. Also, the Soviets used minefields to further disrupt the German armor.

By 1944, blitzkrieg as a German tactic was finished. The last actual appearance of blitzkrieg in the war was when [[George Patton | General George S. Patton's]] Third Army broke out of the Normandy Pocket in Operation Cobra. The Allied columns covered 600 miles in just under two weeks.

== Blitzkrieg after the war ==

The first significant use of blitzkrieg tactics in the post-war era was in the 1967 [[Six Day War]] when Israel, after destroying the entire Egyptian air force in a little more than an hour, sent a three pronged tank attack south to seize the Sinai peninsula and north to occupy the [[Golan]] heights.{{fact}} The ground phase of the first Gulf War, lasting only four days, followed a blitzkrieg-style attack with US, British, and French tanks that poured deep into southern Iraq in what General [[Norman Schwarzkopf]] termed a "Hail Mary" pass before hooking right and cutting off the escaping Iraqi forces, which were then demolished in detail by tanks and aircraft. The resumption of hostilities in Iraq relied upon "Shock and Awe" a deriviative of blitzkrieg doctrine.{{fact}}

== References ==
<references/>
==Bibliography==
Frieser, K.H. 'The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West'

[[Category:World War II]]
[[Category:Military]]

Nidus

2007-04-29T05:07:13Z

Paddymc68: grammar

A nidus (NEYE-dus) is a place or core for the development of something in nature. For example, the nidus of a pearl is the original core from which the pearl develops.

Nidus is often used as a figure of speech to refer to the essential core of something.

In psychiatry, a hallucination lacks a nidus in reality, but a delusion has one.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

2007-04-29T04:48:46Z

Paddymc68:

{{rewrite|too much about decision to run for a third term, not enough about his depression-era economic ideas, not enough about the Second World War, too much attention paid to the Bible}}
[[Image:509px-FDR in 1933.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]'''Franklin Delano Roosevelt''' '''(January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945)''', was the 32nd president of the United States of America, following [[Herbert Hoover]] and preceding [[Harry Truman]]. Roosevelt was a member of the [[Democratic Party]]. He was elected four times and served a few months longer than 3 terms, from 1933-1945, the longest any one man has been president of the United States. He was elected amidst the uncertainty of the [[Great Depression]].

On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage, due partly to the crippling disease, [[polio]]myelitis, which physically disabled him during his presidency.<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fr32.html</ref>

Although Mr. Roosevelt was very popular in his time, it has been argued by scholars and analysts then and now that many [[New Deal]] relief efforts actually helped to prolong the [[Great Depression]]. Mr. Roosevelt started the second wave of the massive expansion of the Federal Government and greatly increased American foreign aid. Some of these policies were viewed as necessary due to the incredibly high level of unemployment in the 1930s and later US involvement in WWII.<ref>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/32_f_roosevelt/printable.html</ref>.

== Reflections on Christianity ==

Franklin D. Roosevelt, commonly known as "FDR", said this about the Bible in an address on October 6, 1935:

:We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic ...

:Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity.<ref>Quoted in DeMar, ''The Untold Story'', p. 60 and Gabrial Sivan, ''The Bible and Civilization'' (New York: Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., 1973), p. 178.</ref>

FDR became famous for delivering "fireside chats" over the new medium of radio, and on March 9, 1937 he declared:

:I hope that you have re-read the Constitution of the United States in these past few weeks. Like the Bible, it ought to be read again and again.

As [[World War II]] broke out in Europe, FDR warned:

:Those forces hate democracy and Christianity as two phases of the same civilization.

== Decision to run for a third term ==
[[Image:Dcrosmor.jpg|right|thumb|330px]]
It is highly questionable whether FDR would have chosen to run for a third term had the [[Nazis]] not experienced such great success early in World War II, particularly in overrunning [[France]], which had been expected to hold out longer. Historian [[Doris Kearns Goodwin]] has explored the implications of triumphant Naziism for FDR's decision in her book ''No Ordinary Time''. While FDR had inaugurated the first system of peacetime [[conscription]] just after France fell, Congress had agreed to conscript men for one year only, and the frontrunner for the [[Republican]] Presidential nomination in 1940, [[Wendell Willkie]], was an isolationist. It was therefore entirely possible that both conscription and the war would end in 1941 with the Nazis in control of all [[Western Europe]] except for [[Britain]], which would be dangerously isolated. FDR's [[Democratic]] [[heir apparent]], [[Vice President]] [[John Nance Garner]] of [[Texas]], was at best lukewarm on both the war and the [[New Deal]]. To avoid this outcome, FDR probably decided to enter the war at the same time he decided to run again, although he was politically unable to do so until the [[Japanese]] attacked [[Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941.

Had FDR chosen not to run in 1940, he would quite likely have lived longer (the impact of the presidency on its occupants' health is infamous, and FDR eventually confided at least to his wife [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] that he wished to live beyond his term). The [[22nd Amendment]] to the [[U. S. Constitution]], if any, would have dealt with something besides term limitation of the President. FDR's reputation would, however, have been determined by the same factors that determined it in real life: the outcome of World War II, the ability of his party to cement its majority, and in the short term, the willingness of his successor to follow his policies. One of these, the close alliance with the [[Soviet Union]], was repudiated almost immediately by Truman, and as a result, Roosevelt is remembered by [[conservatives]] as at best a qualified success. A Republican 33rd President, however, would most likely have appointed anti-New Deal Justices to the [[U. S. Supreme Court]] (particularly had he been elected in 1940), with the result that Roosevelt today would be roundly condemned as a [[demagogue]], notwithstanding his decision to respect [[George Washington]]'s two-term precedent. Since the Republicans did not actually retake the [[White House]] until the [[1952 Presidential election]] (and then through a candidate who was perceived as being above politics), the New Deal had time to be embraced by a new generation of politicians and constitutional scholars of both parties, although not universally (see [[Constitution in exile movement]]). This may have been an equally important factor in Roosevelt's decision.

== Wartime record ==

The following year, on May 27, 1941, FDR stated in one of his radio addresses:

:The Nazis are as ruthless as the Communists in the denial of God.

At the most dificult point in the War, when American boys were landing on the beaches of Normandy, FDR led the nation in prayer publicy during a radio broadcast. <ref>Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, [http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odddayp.html Franklin Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer], June 6, 1944.</ref>

"In his second inaugural address, FDR pledged to do his utmost by 'seeking Divine guidance.' He took that self-appointed mandate further on January 25, 1941, when he wrote a personal prologue to a special edition of the New Testament, which was distributed to millions of U.S. soldiers. 'As Commander-in-Chief,' Roosevelt wrote, 'I take pleasure in commending the reading of the Bible to all who serve in the armed forces of the United States.' He believed that all American soldiers should have the opportunity to read the words of Christ in preparing for battle. Once, when joining those soldiers aboard a warship with Winston Churchill, FDR asked the crew and prime minister to join him in singing the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers.' In his final inaugural address, FDR affirmed, "So we pray to Him for the vision to see our way clearly ... to achievement of His will.' "<ref>God and George W. Bush (New York: Regan Books, 2004), p. 176</ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roosevelt, Franklin}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:World War II]]

William McKinley

2007-04-29T04:45:50Z

Paddymc68:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:William mckinley.jpg|180px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: green no-repeat scroll top left;"|William McKinley;
Twenty-Fifth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|January 29, 1843
|-
|Died
|September 14, 1901
|-
|Term
|1897-1901
|-
|}

'''William McKinley''' was the 25th [[Presidents of the United States| President of the United States]], serving from 1897 until 1901. His administration was notable for the [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898, which McKinley reluctantly entered after a large amount of public and media pressure. He was shaot by an anarchist, [[Leon Czolgosz]], in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901. He died eight days later.
[[category:Presidents of the United States]]

George Washington

2007-04-29T04:44:48Z

Paddymc68: removed unsourced claim

[[Image:washington-deleware.jpg|450px|right|frame]]
'''George Washington''' '''(February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799)''' was the unanimously elected 1st President of the [[United States of America]] and the Commander-in-Chief in the [[Revolutionary War]].<ref>http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/gw1.html</ref> He was also a devout [[Christian]], with his adopted daughter once stating that "if you question Washington's faith, you may as well question whether or not he was a patriot."<ref>http://www.christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g011.html</ref>

Washington endeared himself to generations of Americans by first refusing to become a military dictator or king and then by voluntarily stepping aside as the leader of a prosperous nation. His precedent was voluntarily followed for 140 years. Towards that end, he sought to emulate the model of the citizen-soldier set by the Roman leader [[Cincinatus]], a comparison that is truly testament to Washington's greatness, and one that drew worldwide attention and acclaim, even in England, the nation he defeated.<ref>For Lord Byron's poem on the subject, hailing Washington as "the first, the last, the best, the Cincinnatus of the West," see http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/2001/byron0101.html.</ref> The archetype of Washington as the citizen-soldier has become part of America's collective idealization of citizenship, and is immortalized in [[New York city| New York city's]] [[Washington Square Arch]], which depicts Washington the soldier on the left, and Washington the statesman on the right.<ref>For photographic images, see http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GV/GV046WashingtonSquareArch.htm</ref>

He was born on February 22, 1732 to Augustine and Mary Washington. <ref> [[Encyclopedia of Presidents, George Washington]], Zachary Kent, Children's Press, 1986. </ref>

[[Image:George washington 3.jpg|left|thumb]]
Washington bravely led the colonists in revolt against the unjust British government, and in its place established a new government. Fighting against the vastly more powerful British army, Washington lost nearly every battle in the American Revolution until winning at Trenton and Princeton, and then lost most battles afterwards until ultimately prevailing at Yorktown with the help of a new contingent of French troops.

Washington frequently invoked Christianity in his work. As General, he commanded that chaplains be included in every regiment: "The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country."<ref>http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-02-22&view=View</ref>

Washington declared in his Inaugural Address: "It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of Providential agency." Comments such as this one have led many modern scholars to conclude that Washington was in fact a deist rather than a Christian.<ref>''Id.''</ref>

Washington declared in his Farewell Address: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." <ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r106:4:./temp/~r1068i99iE:e2427: Reading of Washington's Farewell Address -- (Senate - February 22, 2000)]</ref>

On November 4, 1752, Washington was initiated into Freemasonry at Fredricksburg Lodge, Fredricksburg, Virginia. He was passed and raised at the same lodge, becoming a Master Mason on August 4, 1753. He later served as Worshipful Master of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in Alexandria, Virginia. Upon his death in 1799, he was given a Masonic funeral at his wife's request.<ref>http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/washington_g/washington_g.html</ref>

==Parson Weems and the cherry tree story==
In 1809, Mason Locke Weems (1756-1825), usually referred to as "Parson Weems," published a book entitled ''History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington.'' This book contained many fanciful stories and half-truths, intended to present Washington as a larger-than-life figure. Perhaps the most famous passage in it is Weems' recounting of a story which he attributed to an unnamed "aged lady, who was a distant relative [of Washington], and, when a girl, spent much of her time in the [Washington] family:"

:"When George," said she, "was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet of which, like most little boys, he was immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping everything that came in his way. One day, in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother's pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don't believe the tree ever got the better of it. The next morning the old gentleman, finding out what had befallen his tree, which, by the by, was a great favourite, came into the house; and with much warmth asked for the mischievous author, declaring at the same time, that he would not have taken five guineas for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their appearance. "George," said his father," do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden?" This was a tough question; and George staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself: and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all- conquering truth, he bravely cried out, "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet."—"Run to my arms, you dearest boy," cried his father in transports, "run to my arms; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold."<ref>British spellings are as they appear in the original text.</ref><ref>Weems, George Mason (1918), ''History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington.'' [http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/gw/chap2.html Chapter 2: Birth and Education], online at University of Virginia]</ref><ref>[http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC22316477&id=6tc56rgYE1YC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=mason+locke+weems&as_brr=1#PPP13,M1 The Life of George Washington] with Curious Anecdotes Equally Honourable to Himself, and Exemplary to his Young Countrymen. 1837, facsimile page images at Google Books</ref>

(Notice that Weems did not represent Washington as calling it "my ''little'' hatchet;" that appears to be a "familiar misquotation.")

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President Washington was grouped in the "Great" group, ranked 1st, with a mean score of 4.92 out of 5.00. <ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>

----

'''Sources:''' <references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, George}}
[[Category:Military Commanders]]
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

James Madison

2007-04-29T04:41:04Z

Paddymc68:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:7648ruy6g.gif|180px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: maroon no-repeat scroll top left;"|James Madison;
Fourth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|March 16, 1751
|-
|Died
|June 28, 1836
|-
|Term
|1809-1817
|-
|}

'''James Madison''' was the 4th President of the [[United States of America]], serving from 1809-1817. Madison also played a prominent role at the [[Constitutional Convention]] of 1787 and is sometimes known as the "Father of the [[Constitution]]".

Madison was born in March 16, 1751 on the estate of Blue Ridge in Virginia. He is responsible for writing and proposing the Virginia Plan which would later become part of the Constitution. He died June 28, 1836 in Montpelier, Virginia at age 86. <ref>[[Encyclopedia of Presidents James Madison]] by Susan Clinton, Children's Press </ref>

==The War of 1812==

Madison's presidency was not without problems. In particular, the British seizure of American ships was something that he could not resolve diplomatically. Instead, he pushed for war, and the U.S. eventually invaded Canada (then still a British colony), in what became known as the [[War of 1812]]. That war saw the seizing of Detroit by Canada, and the burning of Washington, D.C. by the British. In hindsight, the War of 1812 is often viewed as a mistake, but at the time the [[Federalist Party]]'s opposition to the war (and to Madison's [[Democratic-Republican Party]]) led to the Federalists being viewed as "unpatriotic" and "anti-American," and the party disbanded soon after the next election year.

==Madison on Separation of Church and State==

Madison, along with his fellow Democratic-Republican [[Thomas Jefferson]], was adamant in maintaining a [[Separation of church and state]]: "The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity." (Letter to F.L. Schaeffer, Dec 3, 1821)

"Is the appointment of Chaplains to the two Houses of Congress consistent with the Constitution, and with the pure principle of religious freedom? In the strictness the answer on both points must be in the negative. The Constitution of the U. S. forbids everything like an establishment of a national religion. The law appointing Chaplains establishes a religious worship for the national representatives, to be performed by Ministers of religion, elected by a majority of them; and these are to be paid out of the national taxes. Does not this involve the principle of a national establishment, applicable to a provision for a religious worship for the Constituent as well as of the representative Body, approved by the majority, and conducted by Ministers of religion paid by the entire nation?" (Detached Memorandum, circa 1820).

James Madison once said that, "In the papal system, Government and Religion are in a manner consolidated, and that is found to be the worst of Government." <ref> [[God and the Oval Office]] by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2002. </ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, James}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Andrew Johnson

2007-04-29T04:38:13Z

Paddymc68:

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:Andrew johnson.jpg|180px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: maroon no-repeat scroll top left;"|Andrew Johnson
Seventeenth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|December 29, 1808
|-
|Died
|July 31, 1875
|-
|Term
|1865-1869
|-
|}

'''Andrew Johnson''' was the 17th [[President of the United States of America]]. He was the first President to be [[impeachment|impeached]], but he was acquitted by one vote. The reason for impeachment was his violation of the Tenure of Office Act, which denied him the power to dismiss presidential appointees without the Senate's permission.

==Accession to Presidency==
He became President in 1865 after [[Abraham Lincoln]] was assassinated at [[Ford's Theatre]] while watching the play "Our American Cousin".

==Impeachment==
He was summoned to trial for "high crimes and misdemeanors." He avoided impeachment by only one vote. <ref> [[Fandex]], Workman Publishing, 2002. </ref>

<references/>
[[Category:Presidents of the United States|Johnson, Andrew]]

Ulysses S. Grant

2007-04-29T04:35:58Z

Paddymc68: /* Military Career */

[[Image:Ulysses grant.jpg|thumb|180px]]

'''Ulysses S. Grant''' was the President of the United States from 1869 to 1877. He was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He served as a Union general in the [[Civil War]] and is credited for victory against the south. After his Presidency he had a cancer in his throat and was in great pain for the rest of his life. He struggled to write his memoirs but completed them and they provided money for his family after he died. He died in the morning on July 23, 1885. <ref> Encyclopedia of Presidents - Ulysses S. Grant by Zachary Kent, Children's Press, 1989. </ref>

His administration is often considered to have been one of widespread governmental [[corruption]].

==Military Career==
An 1843 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Grant served in the Mexican American War. He tried several businesses after the war, but none of them succeeded. However, as the demand for West Point graduates increased after the start of the Civil War, Grant rejoined the army. He was, however, relegated to training duty. Eventually, Grant received a field command. After early successes, his commanding general became jealous and removed him from his command. Eventually, he received another field command, and eventually captured [[Vicksburg]], Misssissippi. Shortly after this victory, Grant received command of the entire United States Army. After a bloody struggle at the [[Battle of the Wilderness]], Grant eventually laid siege to Petersburg, Virginia. After a long siege, [[Lee]] eventually surrendered at [[Appomattox]] Court House.

==Name==
He was actually named Hiram Ulysses Grant by his parents but when he applied for West Point he was accidentally registered Ulysses Simpson Grant. He liked the name better than Hiram Ulysses Grant because it formed the initials H.U.G.<ref> Encyclopedia of Presidents - Ulysses S. Grant by Zachary Kent, Children's Press, 1989. </ref>

==Current Studies==

The Ulysses S. Grant Association, with help from Southern Illinois University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, is in the process of publishing an exhaustive, annotated series of volumes of Grant documents. Also in the works is a scholarly edition of the ''Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant''. <ref>http://twister.lib.siu.edu/projects/usgrant/</ref>

==References==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Ulysses S.}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Military Commanders]]

Ulysses S. Grant

2007-04-29T04:35:09Z

Paddymc68: language

[[Image:Ulysses grant.jpg|thumb|180px]]

'''Ulysses S. Grant''' was the President of the United States from 1869 to 1877. He was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant, Ohio. He served as a Union general in the [[Civil War]] and is credited for victory against the south. After his Presidency he had a cancer in his throat and was in great pain for the rest of his life. He struggled to write his memoirs but completed them and they provided money for his family after he died. He died in the morning on July 23, 1885. <ref> Encyclopedia of Presidents - Ulysses S. Grant by Zachary Kent, Children's Press, 1989. </ref>

His administration is often considered to have been one of widespread governmental [[corruption]].

==Military Career==
An 1843 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Grant served in the Mexican American War. He tried several businesses after the war, but none of them succeeded. However, as the demand for West Point graduates increased after the start of the Civil War, Grant rejoined the army. He was, however, relegated to training duty. Eventually, Grant received a field command. After early successes, his commanding general became jealous and removed him from his command. Eventually, he received another field command, and eventually captured [[Vicksburg]], Misssissippi. Shortly after this victory, Grant received command of the entire United States Army. After a bloody struggle at the [[Battle of the Wilderness]], Grant eventually laid seige to Petersburg, Virginia. After a long siege, [[Lee]] eventually surrendered at [[Appomattox]] Court House.

==Name==
He was actually named Hiram Ulysses Grant by his parents but when he applied for West Point he was accidentally registered Ulysses Simpson Grant. He liked the name better than Hiram Ulysses Grant because it formed the initials H.U.G.<ref> Encyclopedia of Presidents - Ulysses S. Grant by Zachary Kent, Children's Press, 1989. </ref>

==Current Studies==

The Ulysses S. Grant Association, with help from Southern Illinois University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, is in the process of publishing an exhaustive, annotated series of volumes of Grant documents. Also in the works is a scholarly edition of the ''Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant''. <ref>http://twister.lib.siu.edu/projects/usgrant/</ref>

==References==

<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Ulysses S.}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Military Commanders]]

Millard Fillmore

2007-04-29T04:27:46Z

Paddymc68: removed unsourced claim

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:Millard fillmore.jpg|180px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: maroon no-repeat scroll top left;"|Millard Fillmore;
Thirteenth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|January 7, 1800
|-
|Died
|March 8, 1874
|-
|Term
|1850-1853
|-
|}

'''Millard Fillmore''' became the 13th President upon the unexpected death due to illness of President [[Zachary Taylor]] in 1850. He served as the president from 1850-1853.
Fillmore admitted [[California]] as a state as part of the Compromise of 1850, sent [[Commodore Perry]] to [[Japan]], and was president during the Gold Rush to California. Fillmore was the last Whig to hold the presidency, and he failed in his presidential candidacy in 1856 as the nominee of both the Know Nothing (American) Party and the Whig Party. The Whig Party did not even nominate him for reelection in 1852.

On July 10, 1850, Fillmore declared, "I dare not shrink; and I rely upon Him who holds in His hands the destinies of nations to endow me with the requisite strength for the task."

Fillmore also stated in his Annual Message of 1852, "We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the Constitution and Government ... bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit ... to our children."

He was also the candidate for the Know-Nothing party in 1856, but lost to Democratic candidate, James Buchanan. He died February 1874 in Bufalo, New York. <ref> [[Encyclopedia of Presidents Millard Fillmore]] by Jane Clark Casey, Children's Press, 1988. </ref>
==Mencken's "Bathtub hoax"==

In 1917, the acerbic journalist [[H. L. Mencken]] published a newspaper article that claimed to be a history of the bathtub. Among other things, it stated that initially there was widespread public opposition to bathtubs; that Millard Fillmore ordered the first bathtub installed in the White House; and that his support of the invention helped to popularize it. The article was completely false from beginning to end, but was widely believed and the "fact" about Fillmore made its way into many reference books.

==See also==
*[[Mallard Fillmore]], conservative-themed newspaper comic strip by Bruce Tinsley

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fillmore, Millard}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Dwight D. Eisenhower

2007-04-29T04:02:16Z

Paddymc68: grammar/spelling

{{stub}}
[[Image:Yte7567.jpg|right|thumb|250px]]
'''Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower''' '''(October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969)''' was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during [[World War II]], and went on to serve as 34th [[President of the United States of America]].

==Early Life==
Eisenhower was born in Texas, but was raised in Kansas. Eisenhower attended the United States Military Academy at West Point (class of 1915), which put him somewhat at odds with his upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness <ref>http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/listofholdingshtml/listofholdingsJ/jehovahwitnessesabilenecongregation.pdf</ref>. (Eisenhower later became baptized into the Presbyterian church, the timing of which made him the first President to become baptized while in office <ref>http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/eisenhower.html</ref>.) Eisenhower was stationed in Texas during World War I. There he met his future wife, Mamie Geneva Doud.

==First Term==
After [[Harry Truman]] decided against running for a third term in 1952, Eisenhower ran on the [[Republican]] ticket, though he was asked to run as a [[Democrat]]s as well. Due to his popularity as a [[General]] in [[World War II]], he won the election.

During this term, the [[Korean War]] ended in a stalemate after a treaty was signed. Eisenhower's term in office is also notable for the creation of the Interstate Highway System, which was funded by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 <ref>http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.html</ref>.

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenhower, Dwight D}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Military Commanders]]
[[Category:World War II]]

Bill Clinton

2007-04-29T03:57:30Z

Paddymc68: removed irrelevant information, corrected grammar etc.

Bill Clinton

2007-04-29T03:43:55Z

Paddymc68: /* Early Political Career */

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:billclinton.jpg|200px|United States President Bill Clinton]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: indigo no-repeat scroll top left;"|Bill Clinton;
Forty-second President of the United States
|-
|Born
|August 19, 1946
|-
|Term
|1993-2001
|-
|}

'''William Jefferson''' "Bill" '''Clinton''' '''(August 19, 1946 - present)''' served as the 42nd [[President of the United States of America]] from 1993-2001, following [[George H. W. Bush]] and preceding [[George W. Bush]].

== Early Life ==

Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946 AD in Hope, Arkansas. His father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr. died in a car accident while his mother was pregnant with him. Clinton's mother later married Roger Clinton, and the four year-old William was given his stepfather's name.[http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html]

Clinton was active in high school, participating in various student government organizations as well as playing the saxophone. Roger Clinton, however, made Bill's family life unpleasant by repeatedly abusing Clinton's mother and her children. Bill Clinton would eventually stand up to his stepfather in high school, forcing him to stop beating his mother and kicking him out of the house. [[http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=50652]] After Roger Clinton underwent alcohol rehabilitation, he would eventually rejoin the family.

Clinton attended [[Georgetown University]], then [[Oxford University]] after receiving a [[Rhodes Scholarship]], and finally earned a Juris Doctorate from [[Yale University]] in 1973 AD. At Yale he met [[Hillary Clinton|Hillary Rodham]], whom he would later marry [http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/bc42.html].

== Early Political Career ==

After returning to live in Arkansas, Clinton was elected [[Attorney General]] of Arkansas in 1976. Two years later, he was elected Governor of Arkansas, becoming the youngest governor in the country as a 32 year-old. Though defeated in 1980, Clinton won back the governorship in 1982 and held it until becoming President in 1992.

== Presidency==
[[Image:Somalia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Poster to end the "racist occupation of Somalia"; eighteen US soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were bodies were dragged through the streets, [http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_id=13022]]]
Despite never winning a majority of the popular vote during either of his elections (although he did win the popular vote over other candidates), President Clinton enjoyed very good public approval ratings during parts of his second term.<ref>[http://www.pollingreport.com/clinton-.htm]</ref> Clinton won in 1992 with 43% of the popular vote versus President [[George H. W. Bush's]] 37%, capitalizing on public discontent with a weak economy and public displeasure with Bush's proposed tax increases, and Ross Perot, a third candidate. In his first two years in office, 1993 through 1994, Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a [[socialism| socialized]] health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy.{{fact}} The [[Association of American Physicians and Surgeons]] successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote.

In 1994, voters expressed their high disapproval of Clinton by giving a victory to Republicans in Congress. This event was tagged the "Republican Revolution," and began a series of showdowns with the Republican-led Congress.{{fact}} These showdowns were epitomized by the budget conflict with then-Speaker of the House [[Newt Gingrich]] in 1995. Gingrich refused to pass Clinton's budget proposal, and the latter threatened to shut down the government as Reagan had done in the 1980s. Clinton did not back down, however, and eventually had his budget passed [http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/commentprint082800d.html]. This showdown backfired for the Republicans, as it reinvigorated Clinton's flagging approval ratings. [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Clinton_approval_rating.JPG].

In late 1995, President Clinton dispatched some 20,000 U.S. troops to [[Bosnia]].

Clinton was reelected in 1996 and carried 49.2% of the popular vote against Republican candidate ([[Robert Dole | Bob Dole]]), who won 41%, and "populist" candidate, [[H. Ross Perot]], who won 8%. Clinton spent a lot of the remainder of his presidency combating scandals. A special prosecutor's report was not released until well into Clinton's second term, and brought documented Clinton giving false testimony in a civil lawsuit while President which resulted in his impeachment and disbarment from the legal profession.{{fact}} The main charge was that he had committed perjury in a civil suit. The perjured testimony directly related to an attempt to defraud the plainitff of damages. The Senate failed to make clear what constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. <ref>[http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/trial/statements/lieberman.shtml Statement by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)], Congressional Record for Friday, February 12, 1999.</ref>,

During Clinton's presidency the [[terrorist]] group [[al-Qaeda]] conducted the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, simulataneous bombings of the US embassies in [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]] in 1998, and the attack on the [[USS Cole]] in 2000. Terrorist leader [[Osama bin Laden]] issued two public [[fatwa]]s declaring War on America. <ref>[http://www.kimsoft.com/2001/binladenwar.htm Bin Laden's Declaration of War], 1998.</ref> In the 1998 fatwa><ref>Bernard Lewis, [http://www.msu.edu/course/iss/325/stein/read-325-3.htm#Lewis License to Kill], Foreign Affairs, November/December 1998.</ref> bin Laden told ''[[Jihad|jihadist]]s'' worldwide,

:Clinton appeared in front of the whole world threatening and promising revenge, but these threats were merely a preparation for withdrawal. You have been disgraced by [[Allah]] and you withdrew; the extent of your impotence and weaknesses became very clear. It was a pleasure for the "heart" of every Muslim and a remedy to the "chests" of believing nations to see you defeated in the three Islamic cities of Beirut, [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]]. <ref>[http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/context.jsp?item=a1097mohamedinterview&scale=0#a1097mohamedinterview October 1997: [[Ali Mohamed]] Tells FBI He Helped Al-Qaeda Kill US Soldiers, But FBI Takes No Action]</ref>

Bin Laden told ''ABC News'' at the time, "We do not have to differentiate between military or civilian. As far as we are concerned, they are all targets." <ref>The 9-11 Commission Report, [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec2.pdf2. The Foundation of the New Terrorism], Official Government Edition, GPO, 2004.</ref>

Clinton also signed into law the [[Violence Against Women Act]], which opened the federal courts to claims of domestic disputes between men and women, which had always been handled under state rather than federal law. Portions regarding civil rights remedies were later found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

== Whitewater Scandal ==

His close personal business partnerships with James McDougall in a failed Savings and Loan scam lead to investigation of the [[Whitewater]] scandal. Several of the people involved with the sale of land prior to the Clinton presidency were indicted, but the Clintons were never charged with a crime.

== Impeachment ==

On Aug. 17, 1998, after relentless media attention, leaks, and news of Lewinsky's upcoming testimony, Clinton made history by becoming the first U.S. president to testify in front of a grand jury in an investigation of his own possibly criminal conduct. In an address to the nation, he admitted to having had an "inappropriate relationship" with Lewinsky, but reaffirmed that he did not ask anyone to lie about or cover up the affair.

[[Kenneth Starr]], the special prosecutor in the case, pursued the matter.

Clinton became the second sitting president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives. During his second term Clinton was accused of perjury in connection to the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. The US Senate voted to acquit him. He later lost his law license in Arkansas.

== After the Presidency ==

Clinton has spent much of time since leaving office working for charitable causes such as support and fund-raising for the victims of AIDS and the Asian tsunami. In the case of the Indonesian tsunami, he teamed with former president [[George H.W. Bush]] to raise money for relief efforts.

Bill Clinton's wife, [[Hillary_Rodham_Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], was elected Senator to New York in 2000. Reelected in 2006, she is now seeking the Democratic nomination for president 2008.

Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff was John Podesta between 1998-2001.

== References ==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinton, Bill}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Jimmy Carter

2007-04-29T03:41:31Z

Paddymc68:

[[Image:Carter.jpg|thumb|right]]

'''James Earl Carter''' '''(October 1, 1924 - present)''' was the 39th [[President of the United States of America]] following [[Gerald Ford]] and preceding [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was a [[Democrat]] who served from 1977-1981, after being the Governor of [[Georgia]].

His difficulty in overcoming the challenges that were presented to the nation during his time in office helped lead to the election of [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980. He has been unusually active as an ex-president, serving as an election monitor in many emerging democracies, and as an advocate for peace around the world. For these efforts, he was recognized with the [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]].

==Presidency==

Carter's presidency was marked by a period of American supremacy being challenged abroad and economic recession and [[stagflation]] striking at home. Carter's presidency was marked by retrenchment, after the disappointing agony that had been the [[Vietnam War]], and economic [[stagflation]] churning at home.

In the midst of the 1980 campaign, a pro-U.S. monarchy was toppled by the 1979 [[Iran|Iranian]] Revolution and dozens of [[Iran Hostage Crisis|American hostages were taken]] inside the American embassy by Islamic fundamentalist revolutionaries after Carter gave sanctuary to exiled dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Despite Carter's own Democratic Party controlling both Houses of Congress, he failed to reform the tax system or to reduce the size of government bureaucracy, which he had promised to do during the 1976 campaign.

Carter's response to Soviet aggression against Afghanistan was to single out American farmers who suffered terribly when he terminated the Russian Wheat Deal, a keystone Nixon [[Detente]] initiative to establish trade with USSR and lessen [[Cold War]] tensions.

He was defeated in the 1980 presidential election by Ronald Reagan by nearly ten percentage points. [[Republican Party|Republicans]] also gained control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. The electoral college vote was a landslide, with 489 votes (representing 44 states) for Reagan and 49 for Carter (representing 6 states and the District of Columbia).

===Stagflation===

A major issue President Carter failed to deal with was [[inflation]], caused especially by the rising price of imported oil, which was the major source of energy for many industries. The Misery Index, Carter's own invention of economic well-being, rose 50% in four years.

Government spending caused interest rates to rise to unprecedented levels (above 12 percent per year). Inflation and interest rates reached their highest levels since [[World War II]]. The rapid change in interest rates led to disintermediation of bank deposits, which sowed the seeds of the [[Savings and Loan crisis]]. Investments in fixed income were becoming less valuable. Holders of both bonds, and pensions being paid to retired people had their life savings wiped out. The stagnant growth of the economy (causing unemployment), in combination with a high rate of inflation, has often been called [[stagflation]], an unprecedented situation in American economics.

[[Bert Lance]], Carter's appointee to head the [[Office of Management and Budget]] which manages the U.S. federal budget, was forced to resign when his past bank overdrafts and "check kiting" schemes in Georgia were exposed.

==Post-presidency==
[[Image:Palestine peace not apartheid.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Cover of Jimmy Carter's book, ''Peace Not Apartheid'', which accuses [[Israel]] of practicing racism.]]
Carter has been active in foreign affairs since his presidency. His continued work mediating international disputes, organizing election observations, and working with organizations on disease and hunger were cited when he was awarded the 2002 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]]. In his Nobel lecture, Carter declared his support for "international law":

<blockquote>
Our President, [[Woodrow Wilson]], was honored here for promoting the [[League of Nations]], whose two basic concepts were profoundly important: "collective security" and "self-determination." Now they are embedded in international law. Violations of these premises during the last half-century have been tragic failures, as was vividly demonstrated when the Soviet Union attempted to conquer Afghanistan and when Iraq invaded Kuwait. <ref>[http://jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/nobel.phtml Text of Carter's Nobel Lecture] Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, 2002.</ref>
</blockquote>

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President Carter was grouped in the "Below Average" group, ranked 30th, with a mean score of 2.47 out of 5.00.<ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>

In Jimmy Carter's latest book, ''Palestine Peace Not Apartheid'', he wrote:
<blockquote>
It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel.
</blockquote>
The sentiment was widely criticized. He apologized for the wording of that sentence, but not for his larger message.<ref>Washington Post, January 24, 2007 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/23/AR2007012301668.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/books]</ref>

==UFO Sighting==
[[Image:Carter Sighting Report 2.gif|thumb|right|President Carter's report the planet may have been visited by space aliens.]]
Carter claims to have witnessed an unidentified flying object in 1969; he remains the only U.S. President to have formally reported a [[UFO]]. He filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in [[Oklahoma City]] after a request from that organization. <ref>http://www.presidentialufo.com/carter_ufo_report.htm</ref> During his presidential campaign, Carter promised to release the truth about any alleged UFO cover-up. Many astronomers believe that what Carter saw was actually the planet Venus.

==Voyager Probe==
President Carter placed this official statement on the Voyager space probe <ref>http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=555</ref> for its trip outside the solar system on June 16, 1977: "We cast this message into the cosmos . . . Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some - - perhaps many - - may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe."<ref>http://www.presidentialufo.com/jimmy.htm</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
:[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13265 Carter the worst ex-president -- Steven Hayward]
:[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901541.html Jimmy Carter's Jewish Problem] by Deborah Lipstadt.

==See also==
* [[Carter Doctrine]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Jimmy}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

Jimmy Carter

2007-04-29T03:40:45Z

Paddymc68: removed several non-sourced claims as well as egregious examples of bias - article still is a mess.

[[Image:Carter.jpg|thumb|right]]

'''JAmes Earl Carter''' '''(October 1, 1924 - present)''' was the 39th [[President of the United States of America]] following [[Gerald Ford]] and preceding [[Ronald Reagan]]. He was a [[Democrat]] who served from 1977-1981, after being the Governor of [[Georgia]].

His difficulty in overcoming the challenges that were presented to the nation during his time in office helped lead to the election of [[Ronald Reagan]] in 1980. He has been unusually active as an ex-president, serving as an election monitor in many emerging democracies, and as an advocate for peace around the world. For these efforts, he was recognized with the [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]].

==Presidency==

Carter's presidency was marked by a period of American supremacy being challenged abroad and economic recession and [[stagflation]] striking at home. Carter's presidency was marked by retrenchment, after the disappointing agony that had been the [[Vietnam War]], and economic [[stagflation]] churning at home.

In the midst of the 1980 campaign, a pro-U.S. monarchy was toppled by the 1979 [[Iran|Iranian]] Revolution and dozens of [[Iran Hostage Crisis|American hostages were taken]] inside the American embassy by Islamic fundamentalist revolutionaries after Carter gave sanctuary to exiled dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Despite Carter's own Democratic Party controlling both Houses of Congress, he failed to reform the tax system or to reduce the size of government bureaucracy, which he had promised to do during the 1976 campaign.

Carter's response to Soviet aggression against Afghanistan was to single out American farmers who suffered terribly when he terminated the Russian Wheat Deal, a keystone Nixon [[Detente]] initiative to establish trade with USSR and lessen [[Cold War]] tensions.

He was defeated in the 1980 presidential election by Ronald Reagan by nearly ten percentage points. [[Republican Party|Republicans]] also gained control of the Senate for the first time in twenty-five years. The electoral college vote was a landslide, with 489 votes (representing 44 states) for Reagan and 49 for Carter (representing 6 states and the District of Columbia).

===Stagflation===

A major issue President Carter failed to deal with was [[inflation]], caused especially by the rising price of imported oil, which was the major source of energy for many industries. The Misery Index, Carter's own invention of economic well-being, rose 50% in four years.

Government spending caused interest rates to rise to unprecedented levels (above 12 percent per year). Inflation and interest rates reached their highest levels since [[World War II]]. The rapid change in interest rates led to disintermediation of bank deposits, which sowed the seeds of the [[Savings and Loan crisis]]. Investments in fixed income were becoming less valuable. Holders of both bonds, and pensions being paid to retired people had their life savings wiped out. The stagnant growth of the economy (causing unemployment), in combination with a high rate of inflation, has often been called [[stagflation]], an unprecedented situation in American economics.

[[Bert Lance]], Carter's appointee to head the [[Office of Management and Budget]] which manages the U.S. federal budget, was forced to resign when his past bank overdrafts and "check kiting" schemes in Georgia were exposed.

==Post-presidency==
[[Image:Palestine peace not apartheid.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Cover of Jimmy Carter's book, ''Peace Not Apartheid'', which accuses [[Israel]] of practicing racism.]]
Carter has been active in foreign affairs since his presidency. His continued work mediating international disputes, organizing election observations, and working with organizations on disease and hunger were cited when he was awarded the 2002 [[Nobel Prize|Nobel Peace Prize]]. In his Nobel lecture, Carter declared his support for "international law":

<blockquote>
Our President, [[Woodrow Wilson]], was honored here for promoting the [[League of Nations]], whose two basic concepts were profoundly important: "collective security" and "self-determination." Now they are embedded in international law. Violations of these premises during the last half-century have been tragic failures, as was vividly demonstrated when the Soviet Union attempted to conquer Afghanistan and when Iraq invaded Kuwait. <ref>[http://jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/nobel.phtml Text of Carter's Nobel Lecture] Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, 2002.</ref>
</blockquote>

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President Carter was grouped in the "Below Average" group, ranked 30th, with a mean score of 2.47 out of 5.00.<ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>

In Jimmy Carter's latest book, ''Palestine Peace Not Apartheid'', he wrote:
<blockquote>
It is imperative that the general Arab community and all significant Palestinian groups make it clear that they will end the suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism when international laws and the ultimate goals of the Roadmap for Peace are accepted by Israel.
</blockquote>
The sentiment was widely criticized. He apologized for the wording of that sentence, but not for his larger message.<ref>Washington Post, January 24, 2007 [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/23/AR2007012301668.html?nav=rss_artsandliving/books]</ref>

==UFO Sighting==
[[Image:Carter Sighting Report 2.gif|thumb|right|President Carter's report the planet may have been visited by space aliens.]]
Carter claims to have witnessed an unidentified flying object in 1969; he remains the only U.S. President to have formally reported a [[UFO]]. He filed a report with the International UFO Bureau in [[Oklahoma City]] after a request from that organization. <ref>http://www.presidentialufo.com/carter_ufo_report.htm</ref> During his presidential campaign, Carter promised to release the truth about any alleged UFO cover-up. Many astronomers believe that what Carter saw was actually the planet Venus.

==Voyager Probe==
President Carter placed this official statement on the Voyager space probe <ref>http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=555</ref> for its trip outside the solar system on June 16, 1977: "We cast this message into the cosmos . . . Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some - - perhaps many - - may have inhabited planets and space faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: We are trying to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope some day, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of Galactic Civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe."<ref>http://www.presidentialufo.com/jimmy.htm</ref>

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
:[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=13265 Carter the worst ex-president -- Steven Hayward]
:[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901541.html Jimmy Carter's Jewish Problem] by Deborah Lipstadt.

==See also==
* [[Carter Doctrine]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Jimmy}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

John Quincy Adams

2007-04-29T03:23:42Z

Paddymc68:

{{stub}}
{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:John_quincy_adams.jpg|200px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: green no-repeat scroll top left;"|John Quincy Adams;
Sixth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|July 11, 1767
|-
|Died
|February 23, 1848
|-
|Term
|1825-1829
|-
|}

'''John Quincy Adams''' was the 6th President of the [[United States of America]]. He served one term as President (1825–1829) and then returned to Congress where he spent the remainder of his political career pursuing abolitionist motives. He was the son of President [[John Adams]] and [[Abigail Adams]]. John Quincy Adams also served as the Secretary of State under President [[James Monroe]], helping to formulate the [[Monroe Doctrine]].
He was born on July 11,1767 in Braintree, Massachussets. He died in Washington D.C. February 23, 1848. <ref> [[Encyclopedia of Presidents John Quincey Adams]] by Zachary Kent, Children's Press</ref>

The French aristocrat and American hero, the [[Marquis de Lafayette]], gave John Quincy Adams an alligator as a pet. Adams kept it in a bathroom in the White House until he left office in 1829. Adams was also responsible for the first installation in the White House of a pool table. Among his more unusual hobbies, he regularly went skinny dipping in the [[Potomac]] river. The first American female professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams' habit of taking nude swims at 5 a.m. She had frequently asked for interviews with him and been refused, so she went to the river and sat on his clothes until he answered her questions, becoming the first woman to interview a president.

Adams was the first president to have his photo taken (April 13, 1843). [http://www.classroomhelp.com/lessons/Presidents/qadams.html]

His wife was the only foreign First Lady America has ever had and kept silk worms in order to have gowns made from their products.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John Quincy}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

John Adams

2007-04-29T03:22:39Z

Paddymc68:

[[Image:John_adams.gif|70px|]]

'''John Adams''' '''(October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826)''' was one of America's [[Founding Fathers]], the second President of the [[United States of America]], serving from 1797 to 1801. He was a [[federalist]], and represented [[Massachusetts]]. Also, from 1789 to 1797, he served as the first Vice President of the United States for [[George Washington]]. Adams ran for re-election in 1800 but was defeated by [[Thomas Jefferson]] in the latter's "[[Revolution of 1800]]."

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Quincy, Massachusetts. His father was also named John, his mother was Susanna Adams and his son was [[John Quincy Adams]]. He died July 4, 1826 at the age of 91 in Quincy, Massachusetts only a few hours after the death of Thomas Jefferson. <ref> [[Encylopedia of Presidents, John Adams]] by Marlene Targ Brill, Children's Press </ref>

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President John Adams was grouped in the "Above Average" group, ranked 13th, with a mean score of 3.36 out of 5.00. <ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>

==Quotes==

John Adams once wrote in a letter to [[Dr. Benjamin Rush]], "I have been a church-going animal for seventy-six years, and it has been alleged as proof of my hypocrisy." <ref> [[God and the Oval Office]] by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2005. </ref>

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."<ref>John Adams, 'Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials,' December 1770 [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3235.html The Quotations Page] </ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]

John Adams

2007-04-29T03:21:00Z

Paddymc68: proper capitalization

[[Image:John_adams.gif|70px|]]

'''John Adams''' '''(October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826)''' was one of America's [[Founding Fathers]], the second President of the [[United States of America]], serving from 1797 to 1801. He was a [[federalist]], and represented [[Massachusetts]]. Also, from 1789 to 1797, he served as the first vice president of the United States for [[George Washington]]. Adams ran for re-election in 1800 but was defeated by [[Thomas Jefferson]] in the latter's "[[Revolution of 1800]]."

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Quincy, Massachusetts. His father was also named John, his mother was Susanna Adams and his son was [[John Quincy Adams]]. He died July 4, 1826 at the age of 91 in Quincy, Massachusetts only a few hours after the death of Thomas Jefferson. <ref> [[Encylopedia of Presidents, John Adams]] by Marlene Targ Brill, Children's Press </ref>

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President John Adams was grouped in the "Above Average" group, ranked 13th, with a mean score of 3.36 out of 5.00. <ref>Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (New York, Wall Street Journal Book, 2004)</ref>

==Quotes==

John Adams once wrote in a letter to [[Dr. Benjamin Rush]], "I have been a church-going animal for seventy-six years, and it has been alleged as proof of my hypocrisy." <ref> [[God and the Oval Office]] by John C. McCollister, W Publishing Group, 2005. </ref>

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."<ref>John Adams, 'Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials,' December 1770 [http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/3235.html The Quotations Page] </ref>

==References==
<references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]
[[Category:Vice Presidents of the United States]]

James Monroe

2007-04-29T03:18:54Z

Paddymc68: /* Background */

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:James monroe.jpg|200px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: maroon no-repeat scroll top left;"|James Monroe;
Fifth President of the United States
|-
|Born
|April 28, 1758
|-
|Died
|July 4, 1831
|-
|Term
|1817-1825
|-
|}

'''James Monroe''' was the 5th president of the United States and a lieutenant in the [[American Revolutionary War]]. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia on April 28, 1758. He served two terms as president from 1817-1825.

Monroe was one of the most [[conservative]] presidents in American history, and was nearly re-elected by unanimous consent (reportedly one elector withheld his vote out of deference to the unanimous consent given to President [[George Washington]]). Perhaps Monroe's most famous legacy is the [[Monroe Doctrine]], which instructed European powers to stop colonizing the Americas. His reason for this was conservative: the European and American systems were fundamentally different, and thus Europe should not colonize America anymore or even interfere in our Hemisphere. To this day presidents continue to cite the Monroe Doctrine whenever a European country tries to do something over here.

The "[[Era of Good Feelings]]" overtook our country under Monroe's conservative leadership. The economy prospered. He vetoed the Cumberland Road Bill and the House rejected most spending bills on internal projects. The U.S. Senate was split evenly: 11 free states and 11 slave states (Delaware and Kentucky were slave states). Monroe peacefully resolved the difficult dispute over slavery in new states with the Missouri Compromise: admit one free state (Maine) to balance one new slave state (Missouri), and ban slavery above a certain latitude (36 degrees, 30 minutes) in the new Louisiana Territory.

Monroe's presidency also oversaw Spain ceding [[Florida]] to the United States. <ref>http://www.ipl.org/div/potus/jmonroe.html</ref>

== Background ==

Monroe had served in the [[American Revolution]], and led the charge at the [[Battle of Trenton]]. He was hit by a musket ball in his shoulder, striking an artery. After he recovered, he continued to fight for the Patriots.<ref>http://www.amerisearch.net/index.php?date=2004-04-28&view=View</ref>

As an anti-Federalist, he opposed ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in the absence of a [[Bill of Rights]].

He served as Senator and also Governor of Virginia. He was the Secretary of State in the Administration of [[Thomas Jefferson]], where Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase.

Monroe was Secretary of War under President [[James Madison]] during the war of 1812.

== In His Own Words ==

When elected President, James Monroe declared in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1817:

:I enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that He will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which He has already so conspicuously displayed.

President Monroe declared in his First Annual Message to Congress in 1817:

:For advantages so numerous and highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.

Monroe died on July 4, 1831 in New York City.

== References ==

<references/>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe, James}}
[[Category:Presidents of the United States]]

American Civil War

2007-04-13T00:56:22Z

Paddymc68: grammar change: language said that English settlers had arrived in the early 17th century, not African slaves

{| border="1" align="right" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="250" style="margin-left:5px"
|align="center" colspan="2"|[[Image:Cwlogo.png|200px]]
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy no-repeat scroll top left;"|The Civil War
1861 - 1865
|-
|Begun
|April 12, 1861
|-
|Ended
|April 9, 1865
|-
|Casualties
|970,000
|-
|Total dead
|620,000
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: navy no-repeat scroll top left;"|United States of America
|-
|President
|[[Abraham Lincoln]]
|-
|Secretary of War
|Edwin M. Stanton
|-
|Secretary of the Navy
|Gideon Welles
|-
|Secretary of State:
|William Seward
|-
!colspan="2" align="center" style="color: white; height: 30px; background: gray no-repeat scroll top left;"|Confederate States of America
|-
|President
|[[Jefferson Davis]]
|-
|Secretaries of War
|Leroy Pope Walker, Judah P. Benjamin, George W. Randolph, James Seddon, John C. Breckinridge
|-
|Secretary of the Navy
|Stephan Mallory
|-
|Secretaries of State
|Robert Toombs, Robert M.T. Hunter, Judah P. Benjamin
|}
The '''American Civil War''' was a conflict which took place from 1861 to 1865, involving the government of the [[United States of America]] and eleven southern states which seceded from the Union and formed their own government called the [[Confederate States of America]]. The bloodiest war ever fought on American soil, it involved casualties of nearly a million soldiers and civilians, roughly three percent of the country's total population.

==Names==
The American Civil War has been called by other titles: the '''War Between the States''' and the '''War of Northern Aggression''' are popular titles in the South, as is the informal title '''The Lost Cause'''. Officially, the United States government has called it the '''War of the Rebellion'''. The term "civil war" is most accurate, as it not only involved state against state from a common country, but the splitting of families as well; fathers would take sides against sons, and brother would fight against brother in many battles. In one sad case, Private Wesley Culp of the 2nd Virginia Regiment would die for the Confederacy at the [[Battle of Gettysburg]], killed on his father's farm. (TL 15, pp. 154-155)

==Prelude to war==
===Description of the North prior to 1860===
The chief characteristic of the North was its industrialization, which was rapid. Plants to manufacture metal goods sprang up almost as fast as they were invented, and after manufacture they spread quickly. One example was [[John Deere]], who in 1840 was manufacturing a new stainless-steel plow that he had invented barely three years before; by 1848 the plows were selling at the rate of a thousand a year. By 1857, Deere and his partner had expanded with the manufacture of so much farm equipment that the Middle West was made the country's greatest wheat-producing area. Farm equipment also included the first examples of steam-powered plows, and in 1859 there were contests as to who could build and deploy the best plow. One such plow at a contest at Freeport, Illinois caused an official committee to declare the machine could "plow 25 acres a day at 62.5 cents an acre" versus a normal manual charge of $2.50 an acre. (Nevins, pg 166-168)

Inventions were not limited to farming. [[Locomotive]]s, [[sewing machine]]s, [[shoe pegger]]s, [[reaper]]s, [[auger]]s, [[turbine]]s, [[hydraulics]], [[power loom]]s, [[rotary press]]es, and more seemingly raced out of factories. [[Standardization]] was also an American invention, meaning replacement parts could be made and ordered to replace something broken within the machine instead of replacing the machine itself, as Connecticut's [[Samuel Colt]] first demonstrated with his new [[revolver]]. And to keep up with the exporting demand, Northern shipyards produced so many ships that they threatened to eclipse their chief rival, Great Britain. (TL 1, pg 18)

The North was also a melting pot of [[immigration]]. Northern cities were crowded and boisterous, and expanding rapidly. New York's population had jumped from 515,000 to 814,000 in the 1850's; Chicago's had gone from its 1837 incorporation with barely more than 4,000 people to over 112,000 by 1860. (TL 1, pg 16)

===Description of the South prior to 1860===
The South was largly agrarian. A Southern boast, "Cotton is king!" became very true by the 1850's, as cotton was grown, harvested, and shipped to market in vast quantities. The number of bales in 1849 was 2 million; by 1859 it had jumped to 5.7 million, amounting to more than half of all American exports and seven-eighths of the total amount of cotton in the world. (TL 1, pg 10)

Southern life was set by a landed gentry, the small minority of well-to-do planters. They practiced a cultivated chivalry, kindness towards those of inferior status, a code of honor among equals, and a gallantry towards women.

The money made from cotton was spent on goods manufactured in the North, as well as imports from Europe. They had a taste for well-bred horses, quality firearms, foxhounds, and the belles from fine Southern families. And they also studied assiduously the arts of war, often spending large sums of money to send themselves or their sons to military schools. One Mississippi planter, Jefferson Davis, remarked that only in the South "did a gentlemen go to a military academy who did not intend to follow the profession of arms." (TL 1, pg 12)

But the South had several serious drawbacks. Its population at 1860 was roughly 9 million people, of whom more than 3 million were slaves, versus more than 21 million in the North. There were only 18,000 manufacturing plants of any kind in the South, as opposed to the North's more than 100,000. Of these, only two were capable of producing [[rolled iron]], one which produced [[gunpowder]], and none capable of producing [[firearms]]; there were twenty-seven gun manufacturers in Massachusetts alone. More than 70% of all [[railroad]] mileage was north of the Ohio River; the South had the remainder.

===[[Slavery]]===
[[Image:Whippedslave.JPG|thumb|150px|right|Unknown slave prior to 1860, showing the scars of one, or more, brutal whippings.]]
Before the Civil War, the individual states, particularly in the South, shared a belief that each state was sovereign. Sovereignty included jurisdiction over, and the handling of, each state's affairs, which invariably included their own public and private institutions.

Yet the "peculiar institution" cited more often than anything else in defending states' rights was the Southern institution of slavery. Africans had been present as slaves in the American colonies since the early 17th century; over the years the South began to see it less as an evil and more of a necessity; so ingrained into the fabric had slavery become that Vice President John C. Calhoun was to say in 1838:
:''"many in the South once believed that slavery was a moral and political evil. That folly and delusion are gone. We see it now in its true light, and regard it as the most safe and stable basis for free institutions in the world."'' (TL 1, pg 40)

The slaves for the most part were treated brutally. Born in bondage, a slave usually began his first work in the fields at the age of twelve. They would work in the fields from the light of day until, in the words of a Louisiana slave, "until it is too dark to see, and when the moon is full, they often labor until the middle of the night" (TL, pg 48). They were fed and clothed poorly, usually in rags; shoes were uncommon. Disease was rampant; four out of 100 lived past age 60. And they were required to absolute respect to a white. Punishment for infractions was severe, involving stocks, pronged neck collars, and whippings where salt water was used to clear infection, with the result of pain so excruciating a slave recollecting it wrote "the flesh crawls upon my bones" (TL 1, pp 49-58)

Eli Whitney patented his cotton gin in 1793. Prior to that, slaves were harvesting cotton, pulling the seed from the boll, and packing by hand for market at a rate of 100 bales a week. The gin did the hard work of separating the boll, enabling bales of cotton at a rate of over 1000 a week, often more. The result was the number of annual cotton harvests increased to three, which saw a concurrent rise in profits made by plantation owners; the number of slaves needed for the fields and other tasks increased as well, climbing from 300,000 in 1790 to over three million by 1860.

===Political machinations and compromises===
The '''Missouri Compromise of 1820''' allowed for the entry of Maine into the Union as a free state, and Missouri as a slave state. It was further agreed that slavery was to be excluded from territory north of the 36°30′ parallel, or the remaining western territories. Before admission could be granted to Missouri a clause in the state's constitution provoked controversy: the exclusion of "free negroes and mulattoes". Under Whig Henry Clay's influence in the U.S. senate, an act of admission was passed, upon condition that the controversial [[exclusionary clause]] should "never be construed to authorize the passage of any law" impairing the privileges and immunities of free citizens. The compromise seemed deliberately ambiguous in that it could be interpreted to indicate that free blacks and mulattos did not qualify as United States citizens, which would be put to direct test years later with a slave named Dred Scott. [http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Missouri.html]

Another crisis arose from the request of the California Territory to be admitted to the Union as a [[free state]]; this was complicated by territory acquired in the southwest as a result of the [[Mexican War]] of 1848 and whether to extend slavery there. An omnibus bill drafted by [[Henry Clay]] called the '''Compromise of 1850''' tried to give satisfaction to the southern states in addition to California's admission: the settlement of the Texas-New Mexico border dispute; the slavery question open for voting via popular sovereignty in the Utah and New Mexico territories as they were organized; the end of slave trading in the District of Columbia; and tough requirements concerning [[runaway slave]]s. [http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Compromise_of_1850]

All five measures were enacted in September, 1850 as a result of the efforts and support of Democratic senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] and Whig senator [[Daniel Webster]], and were accepted by moderates throughout the country as well as postponing Southern [[secession]] for another decade. But the seeds of discord were planted; the precedent of [[popular sovereignty]], championed by Douglas as the way for the public to vote whether or not they wanted slavery in their territories, led to the Kansas territory agitating for a similar provision. And the [[Fugitive Slave Act]] that was a part of the Compromise was so bitterly condemned that many moderates who had ignored slavery in the past became determined opponents to any extension of the institution into the territories. Many would risk jail rather than turn over runaway slaves to their owners as required by the new laws.

The '''[[Kansas–Nebraska Act]]''' (May 30, 1854), sponsored by Douglas, provided for the territorial organization of Kansas and Nebraska, using his principle the idea of popular sovereignty. Douglas had written the act in an effort to slow or halt the sectarianism  over slavery's extension, but the Kansas-Nebraska Act merely increased the flames, and was attacked by [[free-soil]] and [[abolitionist]]s as a capitulation to those who supported slavery. The [[Whig Party]], ineffective in preventing it, largely disintegrated, and the Republican Party was born and soon became a viable political organization opposed to territorial expansion of slavery.

On the heels of the act a large number of people left Missouri and sought to influence elections in the Kansas Territory. "[[Border Ruffians]]", as they were called, entered Kansas and cast thousands of illegal votes,{{fact-historical}} resulting in a pro-slave government that Democratic president [[Franklin Pierce]] recognized, and continued doing so even after it was ruled illegitimate by a congressional investigative committee. The territory's actual residents set up their own legislature and created the [[Topeka Constitution]]; Pierce declared their endeavors an act of rebellion, and he went so far as to send in Federal troops to break it up.

===Bleeding Kansas===
[[Image:Brooks1.jpg|thumb|150px|right|J.L. Magee's cartoon of Preston Brooks attacking Charles Sumner on the Senate floor, May 24, 1856.]]
The Border Ruffians also stirred up violence between themselves and the Free-Staters, which became known as ''[[Bleeding Kansas]]'', beginning with the burning of a hotel and printing press in [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]] on May 21, 1856. Several days later an anti-slavery religious fanatic named [[John Brown]] and a few followers retaliated against five pro-slavery men, hacking them to death with [[broadsword]]s. By August thousands of men had formed into pro-slavery armies and marched into Kansas, expecting to force the territory to accept slavery. That same month a small, pitched battle occurred near the city of [[Osawatomie]]; 300 pro-slavery soldiers under the command of John W. Reid fought against Brown and 40 men. Brown lost the battle and Osawatomie was looted and burned. A fragile peace led by a new territorial governor would commence only when Brown and his men left the territory. [http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/kansas.html]

The day after the hotel in Lawrence was burned, a South Carolina congressman named [[Preston Brooks]], incensed over an anti-slavery speech given by Massachusetts Senator [[Charles Sumner]], walked onto the senate floor and beat him with a cane so severely that Sumner took three years to recover. (Bowman, pg 38)

===Dred Scott decision===
[[Dred Scott]] was owned by an Army physician who was transferred to the state of Wisconsin, a free state, for several years before a transfer to Missouri, a slave state. Scott sued on the grounds that his residence in a free state where slavery was illegal made him free. After a series of unsuccessful lawsuits, Scott appealed to the United States Supreme Court, where in 1856, Chief Justice [[Roger B. Taney]] delivered the majority opinion in ''Dred Scott vs. Sanford'':
*Blacks were not entitled to citizenship according to the U.S. Constitution.
*Blacks were not entitled to freedom under the Ordinance of 1797 while within the area of the Northwest Territory, of which Wisconsin was a part.
*The Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibiting slavery north of Missouri and in free states was voided.
What the Dred Scott decision meant was any slave could be taken anywhere in the Union without fear that the owner of the slave would lose his property; a slave was private property, Taney stated, and according to the Fifth Amendment could not be taken from the owner without due process. [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393]

The decision further deterorated North/South relations, as a stunned North realized that free states had to support the institution of slavery.

===Emergence of Lincoln===
[[Image:Abraham-lincoln-cooper-union.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Abraham Lincoln, February 27, 1860.]]
[[Image:SDouglas.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Stephen A. Douglas, about 1858.]]
The Kansas-Nebraska Act attracted much opposition in the country and led to splitting of the Democrats along the [[Mason-Dixon line]] (Douglas in the ensuing years tried desperately to keep it together) as well as the collapse of the Whig Party as an effective political organization. Many former Whigs, whose beliefs included the abolishment of slavery, flocked to the newly-formed [[Republican Party]]; their number would include a lawyer from Illinois who used the act to jump back into politics after a five-year absence, [[Abraham Lincoln]].

Lincoln was nominated for the Senate seat held by Douglas at the Republican State Convention in Springfield on June 16, 1858. The acceptance speech he gave has been called the "[[House Divided]]" speech, after the opening lines:

:''If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new -- North as well as South.'' [http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/divided.htm]

August through October, 1858 saw seven Illinois towns witnessing the [[Lincoln-Douglas debates]]; Douglas the national figure defending the choice of voters whether to accept slavery or not, and the little-known Lincoln taking a stand against slavery on political, social, and moral grounds. Douglas never wavered from defending popular sovereignty, and he also played on the voters' fears of [[black integration]]. Stating blacks were inferior to whites, he appealed to racists by declaring that the government was "established upon the white basis. It was made by white men, for the benefit of white men." (TL 1, pg 106). Lincoln on the other hand knew Douglas was in a war of his own with President [[Franklin Buchanan]]'s administration over acceptance of the Kansas constitution which barred slavery from the state, further alienating Southern Democratic support; the fear was that Douglas would be more appealing to moderate Republicans in the east. Lincoln's strategy therefore was to point out and use the vast difference between the moral indifference to slavery as embodied by Douglas's popular sovereignty, and the moral wrong that slavery actually was as embodied by Republican opposition to it. Douglas was, Lincoln insisted, a man who did not care whether slavery was "voted up or voted down."

Douglas retained his Senate seat, but by a narrow margin. Lincoln, however, won the debates, which thrust him into the national spotlight and put him on the road to the White House.

===John Brown at Harpers Ferry===
During the spring of 1858, John Brown held a meeting in Ontario between blacks and whites in which he stated his intentions to form a stronghold in the mountains between Virginia and Maryland for escaped slaves, even going so far as to adopt his own provisional constitution for the United States, which his group adopted. Several prominent Boston [[abolitionist]]s also gave him financial and moral support.

By summer, 1859, Brown was in a rented farmhouse in Maryland, across the river from the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia; with him was an armed band of sixteen whites and five blacks. On the night of October 16, he raided the armory and took some sixty of the area's leading men as hostages, and hoped that slaves would get word of his forming an "army of emancipation", escape, and fight with him to liberate their fellow slaves. For the next thirty hours he and his men held out against the local militia, but on the following morning a small force of United States Marines led by Army colonel [[Robert E. Lee]] quickly broke into the arsenal building, wounding Brown, and killing two of his sons and ten other followers. He was tried for murder, slave insurrection,  and [[treason]], and at the end he was convicted and hanged. The day he was to die he spoke no last words, merely handing a note to a guard on which he had written a last, prophetic statement: ''"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."'' (TL 1, pp. 70-89)

Ever fearful of a slave insurrection, the South became tougher on its slaves. In Washington, Senator Jefferson Davis assumed, like many others, that the North was behind a conspiracy involving John Brown and others like him, aimed at abolishing slavery. He said in a speech:
:''The Government is no longer to intervene in favor of protection for our slaves. We may be robbed of our property, and the General Government will not intervene for our protection. When the Government gets into the hands of the Republican party, the arm of the General Government, we are told, will not be raised for the protection of our slave property. Then intervention in favor of slavery and [[slave States]] will no longer be tolerated. We may be invaded, and the Black Republican Government will stand and permit our soil to be violated and our people assailed and raise no arm in our defense. The sovereignty of the State is no longer to be a bar to encroachments upon our rights when the Government gets into Black Republican hands. Then John Brown, and a thousand John Browns, can invade us, and the Government will not protect us. ''[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/brown/public_davis.cfm]

Many in the North held a different view. Brown was a martyr for abolition. The great orator [[Frederick Douglas]], an [[ex-slave]] himself who was never afraid to confront the evils of the South's "peculiar institution", perhaps offered the best assessment of Brown:
:''His zeal in the cause of freedom was infinitely superior to mine. Mine was as the taper light, his was as the burning sun. Mine was bounded by time. His stretched away to the silent shores of eternity. I could speak for the slave. John Brown could fight for the slave. I could live for the slave. John Brown could die for the slave.'' [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mfd&fileName=22/22002/22002page.db&recNum=9&tempFile=./temp/~ammem_rvc6&filecode=mfd&next_filecode=mfd&prev_filecode=mfd&itemnum=2&ndocs=32]

===1860 Presidential campaign===
[[Image:Electionlincoln.JPG|thumb|250px|right|Results of the 1860 Presidential Election. Due to the splitting of the country on the slavery issue, Lincoln won only 40% of the popular vote.]]
In April, 1860, the Democratic Party held its convention in Charleston, South Carolina, and the first platform placed for a vote is pro-slavery. When it is rejected in the course of voting, delegates from eight states in the South walk out; the remaining delegates are forced to adjourn when they cannot agree on a candidate to represent their party in the White House. (Bowman, pg. 40)

The Republicans hold their convention in Chicago in May, 1860, and Lincoln is nominated on the third ballot; he had to stand as a moderate on the slavery issue in order to gain the nomination. The party's platform insists on leaving slavery alone in the states where it already existed and against the spread of it into the territories. (Bowman, pg 40)

The Democrats reconvene their convention in Baltimore, Maryland, in June. Stephen Douglas is nominated for the presidency after the Southern delegates walk out again; they would hold their own convention later in Balitmore and nominate Vice-President John C. Breckenridge on a platform calling for the right to slavery. (Bowman, pg. 40)

The election centered on [[sectionalism]] and slavery, with each candidate doing little more than fanning the fears of the voters; Douglas would be the only one to travel the country personally, including all Southern states, but the split within his party was too great to make a difference. Lincoln went on to win the election, with 180 electoral votes, and 40% of the popular votes, none of which included a Southern state. Breckenridge placed second, winning 72 electoral votes, and 24% of the popular vote. John C. Bell, a candidate for the Constitutional Union Party (made up of former Whigs and former members of a nativist American party derisively called "[[Know Nothings]]"), took the states of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Last was Douglas, barely managing Missouri, and three out of seven electoral votes from New Jersey. Southern leaders spoke openly about secession within days of Lincoln's victory. (Bowman, pg 40; Nat. Atlas)

==The Secession==
[[Image:CMercury.GIF|thumb|150px|right|The Charleston ''Mercury'' newspaper printed this special broadside edition on December 20, 1860, just as news reached the editors that South Carolina had withdrawn from the Union.]]
[[image:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.]]
By December of 1860, both houses of Congress were working on proposals for compromises that would postpone the split they knew was coming. [[John J. Crittenden]] of the Senate committee introduced a proposal that would restore the Missouri Compromise by extending the northern boundary line across the continent to the Pacific, intending that it would last for all time. Crittenden's proposal, as well as the others, came down to a vote, but events would prove it was too late. Most of President Buchanan's cabinet, long angered at him (and his predecessor, Democrat Franklin Pierce) for not standing up to Southern demands which were tearing the country apart, walked out in protest; the latest outrage occurred when a delegation from South Carolina arrived at the White House and demanded the removal of Federal troops from the state (Buchanan rejects it). And President-elect Lincoln, although trying to be careful regarding the slavery issue, is insistent that slavery not be expanded into the territories. (Bowman, pg. 41)

On December 20, 1860, the South Carolina government votes to secede from the Union. Within days they begin war preparations, and seize Federal property. By the end of the month Major Robert Anderson spiked the cannon and removed the force stationed at Fort Moultrie in Charleston Harbor; nearby Fort Sumter is considered more defensible, and he places the force there. Aware of Anderson's condition, President Buchanan orders reinforcements sent, and USS ''Brooklyn'' is readied for that purpose in Norfolk; she would be replaced days later by General [[Winfield Scott]]'s preference for a non-Naval supply ship, ''Star of the West''.

On January 6, 1861, Florida troops take the Federal arsenal at [[Appalatchicola]]. Fort Marion at St. Augustine is seized on the 7th. On the 9th, the ''Star of the West'' would be fired upon as she neared Charleston, causing her to turn around and head back to Norfolk. That same day public celebrations erupt in Mississippi as the state legislature votes 84-15 to secede.
*January 10, Florida votes 67-2 to secede.
*January 11, Alabama votes 69-31 to secede.
*January 19, Georgia votes 208-89 to secede.
*January 26, Louisiana votes 114-17 to secede.
*February 1, Texas votes 166-7 to secede.

On February 4th, a[[ peace convention]] meets in Washington, headed by former President [[John Tyler]]. The 131 members from 21 states (none from the South) work out a last, desperate compromise to save the Union. Speaking to the delegates, Tyler implores that "the eyes of the whole country are turned to this assembly, in expectation and hope." The convention ends in failure. (Bowman, pg. 45)

In Montgomery, Alabama, a provisional congress assembles and draws up a constitution by the end of the week; this document is essentially the United States Constitution, but mildly altered to include provisions for states' rights and protection for slavery:
*''The importation of negroes of the African race from any foreign country other than the slaveholding States or territories of the United States of America, is hereby forbidden; and Congress is required to pass such laws as shall effectually prevent the same. Congress shall also have power to prohibit the introduction of slaves from any State not a member of, or territory not belonging to, this Confederacy.''
*''The Privilege of the Writ of [[Habeas Corpus]] shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it. No [[Bill of Attainder]] or ex post facto Law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves, shall be passed.'' (Article 1, section IX)[http://www.civilwarhome.com/csconstitution.htm]

On February 9, a surprised [[Jefferson Davis]] learns he has been elected provisional president of the newly-formed [[Confederate States of America]]; his vice-president is [[Alexander Stephens]] of Georgia. The two are considered moderate enough to please the legislatures of the remaining Southern states which have not yet seceded.

===Fort Sumter===
[[Image:Ftsum.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Fort Sumter under the Confederate flag, April 1861.]]
On the 4th of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the nation's 16th president. In his address he reiterated his stance, and what he believed the stance of the nation should be, namely non-interference with slavery where it existed, and preventing slavery to spread in the territories, and above all was his stand to preserve the Union. The substance of what he said was conciliatory, but it also mentioned the obvious:

:''"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of [[civil war]]. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."'' [http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/lincoln_address1.html]

After communications between [[Fort Sumter]] and Charleston broke down over quietly surrendering the fort, Confederate General [[P.G.T. Beauregard]] knew reinforcing the fort was certain, and he may have been aware of a supply ship already on its way from Norfolk. He ordered the fort shelled on April 12, 1861; the honor of firing the first gun went to an ardent secessionist from Virginia, 66-year-old Edmund Ruffin. The fort surrendered on April 14 after 36 hours of bombardment, the single fatality of the engagement was to a Union soldier, killed when a cannon exploded as they were readying a final salute. Major Anderson and his force were immediately paroled, and were allowed to leave on the supply ship a few hours later.

==Next articles==
*[http://www.conservapedia.com/American_Civil_War:_1861 Continue to the events of the Civil War in 1861]
*[http://www.conservapedia.com/American_Civil_War:_1862 1862]
*[http://www.conservapedia.com/American_Civil_War:_1863 1863]
*[http://www.conservapedia.com/American_Civil_War:_1864 1864]
*[http://www.conservapedia.com/American_Civil_War:_1865_and_Aftermath 1865 and Aftermath]

==References==
*Time-Life Books ''The Civil War'', vol. 1 (''Brother Against Brother''), Time Inc, New York (1983)
*Time-Life Books ''The Civil War'', vol. 15 (''Gettysburg''), Time Inc, New York (1983)
*Nevins, Allan. ''Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing'', Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, (1947)
*Bowman, John S. (editor), ''The Civil War Almanac'' World Almanac Publications, New York (1985)

==Links==
====The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion====
*[http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html Official Records, from Cornell University]
*[http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/sources/records/default.cfm?CFID=2953054&CFTOKEN=64723065&jsessionid=de3014246f1a3c587075TR Official Records, from eHistory.com]
====General====
*[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/civil_war_maps Library of Congress Civil War map collection]
*[http://www.civil-war.net The Civil War Homepage]
*[http://www.pbs.org/civilwar The PBS/Ken Burns documentary]
*[http://www.historyplace.com/civilwar The History Place]
*[http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/misc/civilwar/civilwar.htm Civil War at a Glance; US Interior Department]
*[http://www.civilwarhome.com Shotgun's home of the American Civil War]
*[http://www.cwc.lsu.edu US Civil War Center, from Louisiana State University]
*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/nhihtml/cwnyhshome.html Civil War Treasures, from New York Historical Society]
*[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/ Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln]

====Prelude to war====
*[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=60&invol=393 Full text of the Dred Scott v. Sandford]
*[http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Missouri.html Missouri Compromise]
*[http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/kansas.html Kansas-Nebraska act]
*[http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Compromise_of_1850 Compromise of 1850]
*[http://www.usconstitution.net/fslave.html Text of the Fugitive Slave Law]
*[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/brown/public_davis.cfm text of speech by Sen. Jefferson Davis, Dec. 8, 1859]
*[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?mfd:2:./temp/~ammem_rvc6:: ''Lecture on John Brown'' by Frederick Douglas]

====Emergence of Lincoln====
*[http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/divided.htm Lincoln's "House Divided" speech]
====1860 Presidential Campaign====
*[http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/votes/1853_1869.html#1860 Federal Register, 1860 election results]
====Secession====
*[http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/march/jefferson-davis-inauguration-speech.htm Jefferson Davis Inaugural speech, as reported in Harper's Weekly]
*[http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/lincoln_address1.html text of Licoln's first inaugural speech]
*[http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/lincoln_address2.html Lincoln's second inaugural speech]
*[http://www.civilwarhome.com/csconstitution.htm Constitution of the Confederate States]

[[Category:United States History]]

[[Category:Featured article]]

Battle of the Bulge

2007-04-13T00:33:42Z

Paddymc68: Americanized some spelling, corrected dates, added some basic yet critical information; much more needs to be done

[[Image:Bulge.jpg|thumb|300=px]]
'''The Battle of the Bulge''' (December 16, 1944-January 28, 1945), also known as the Ardennes Campaign, was the last major German offensive of World War II. Hitler caught American forces by surprise and inflicted heavy casualties.

The German forces advanced through wooded and hilly country in [[Luxembourg]] and [[Belgium]] with the goal of reaching [[Antwerp]]. They amassed three armies for a massive attack against the Allies in the Ardennes Forest. The Nazis surrounded the [[101st Airborne Division]] and elements of the 10th Armored Division in and around the vital crossroads town of Bastogne in southern [[Belgium]], and demanded their surrender. The 101st acting commander, BG Anthony McAuliffe, responded with one word: "Nuts."
[[Image:Wwmapbuldge.jpg|right|thumb]]
Allied resistance, including the extraordinary effort at Bastogne, slowed the [[German]] forces just enough to prevent the Germans from reaching Antwerp. The 1st and 9th US Armies were temporarily placed under the command of British Field Marshal Berrnard Montgomery in an attempt to stabilize the situation. The tide of battle turned after the US [[3rd Army]] under LTG George S. Patton linked up with the 101st Airborne on Dec. 26, 1944. By the time Patton's forces linked up with LTG Courtney H. Hodges's US 1st Army on Jan. 16, 1945, the Germans had been beaten back nearly to the point from which they launched their attack four weeks earlier.
[[Image:BattleBulge.jpg|left|thumb]]
General Eisenhower proclaimed, "By rushing out from his fixed defenses the enemy may give us the chance to turn his great gamble into his worst defeat. So I call upon every man, of all the Allies, to rise now to new heights of courage ... with unshakable faith in the cause for which we fight, we will, with God's help, go forward to our greatest victory." This battle was the largest ever fought by the U.S. Army. Nearly 600,000 American Soldiers alone fought in this historic battle.
[[Image:st_at_bulge.jpg|right|thumb]]
[[category:wars]]