Sparks Commentary

“Therefore no one in the armed forces is treated as familiarly as are spies , no one is given rewards as rich as those given to spies , and ...

“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant , to step the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe , Asia and ...

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

“Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal – you sockdologizing old man-trap!...

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...

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...

Warning: This blog post contains some disturbing pictures. One of these in particular is very graphic, and may merit special caution. I grew...

“An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, shipping of goods, wares, a...

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...

“I heartily accept the motto,—‘That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and system...

Joseph Story was a U. S. Supreme Court justice, appointed by President James Madison In 1812, President James Madison appointed a new just...

“They [African Americans] had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate...

The original Constitution never used the words "slave" or slavery," but it sure did talk about them ... In the Constituti...

" ... that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth ." - Closing lines of  Abr...

"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to...

"[The Congress shall have the power] To establish post-offices and post-roads ..." - The United States Constitution, Article 1, S...