Sparks Commentary

In 1823, President James Monroe gave one of his annual addresses to Congress on December 2nd. In this address, he announced that “ the Amer...

When  Abraham Lincoln  was elected president in 1860, James Buchanan remained in office until March 4th of 1861. (The Twentieth Amendment ,...

“I do solemnly swear [that] I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States , and will to the best of my ability,...

In the United States , the most famous general in our  War of 1812  was probably  Andrew Jackson , who now appears on our $20 bill. But my v...

In 1898, President William McKinley sent American troops to fight in Cuba and the Philippines . This conflict is now known as the  “Spanis...

In July 1850, President   Zachary Taylor  mysteriously died while still in office. Most seem to believe that his stomach disease was from n...

An anecdote about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth … On April 14th, 1865,  President   Abraham Lincoln  was  assass...

Martin Van Buren was part of the “Jacksonian Era,” named after the controversial  Andrew Jackson . Nonetheless, historians usually begin th...

By 1849, General Zachary Taylor had spent more than four decades in the United States Army . He had become one of the heroes of the Mexican-...

In the earliest decades of the United States , all successful political parties tried their best to sidestep the controversial issue of sla...

James K. Polk was one of the most expansionist presidents in American history . In 1845, he oversaw the annexation of the Republic of Texa...

Warren G. Harding is now known as one of the worst presidents in American history . Many today would even consider him the very worst, alth...

On July 2nd, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau shot the 20th President of the United States . The president was  James A. Garfield , the predecessor...

Reconstruction had been going on for twelve years, when Mr. Hayes became president When the Civil War ended in 1865, it was followed by ano...

William Howard Taft has now become little more than a footnote to the larger story of  Theodore Roosevelt . When we hear Taft’s name today, ...

Benjamin Harrison’s grandfather was  William Henry Harrison , who was the ninth president of the United States. This grandfather had served ...

How much of the blame for the Great Depression belongs to Herbert Hoover? Herbert Hoover had been president for only seven months, when the...

Wikipedia gets the presidency of Calvin Coolidge badly and wildly wrong … Calvin Coolidge may be one of the greatest presidents in America...

At the time that I write this, Grover Cleveland is the only  president  to serve two non-consecutive presidential terms. That is, he was bo...

“I conceived of the idea of removing the President four weeks ago. Not a soul knew of my purpose. I conceived the idea myself. I read the...