Arthur Foote and the Cult of the Restrained in Art
Nestled in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the “Boston Six” composers rest in quiet obscurity. This “Second New England School,” as they are often called,…
Franklin Pierce, Political Protest, and the Dilemmas of Democracy
On the stump in New Boston, New Hampshire in early January 1852, Franklin Pierce gave a long oration during which free-soil hecklers forced him to address his…
The Spontaneous Disorder of Kansas-Nebraska
The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed 165 years ago this past spring, and as cannons roared on Capitol Hill to celebrate its passing, over the next four years cannons…
Alexander Stephens and The “Cornerstone Speech”
Anxious onlookers packed the Savannah Athenaeum on the night of March 21, 1861 to hear the newly appointed Confederate States Vice President, Alexander Stephens. He had held…
Orestes Brownson’s New England and the Unwritten Constitution
The danger of majoritarian tyranny hangs over republics. The dilemma of constituting a virtuous republic while also restricting interests, sects, and factions’ use of unchecked political power…
Were the Salem Witches justly Hanged?
On February 29, 1892, a large audience gathered at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts to reconsider the infamous Salem witch trials from the distance of two…