Chinese immigration to the United States was a result of European and American imperialism in Asia on the one hand, and a response to global trade networks and labor demands on the other. Introduction Although Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 decades before the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, the[…]
The first statute in the United States to codify naturalization law. Alternately known as the Nationality Act, the Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted citizenship to “any alien, being a free white person” who had been in the U.S. for two years. In effect, it left out indentured servants, slaves, and most women. This implied that[…]
James Madison proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution, but only 10 were approved. When the Constitutional Convention sent the proposed Constitution to the states for ratification, Anti-Federalists voiced strong objections to it, especially criticizing the strength it invested in the national government and its lack of explicit protections for the rights of individuals. Politicians in[…]
The absence of a “bill of rights” turned out to be an obstacle to the Constitution’s ratification by the states. [A] bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse. Thomas Jefferson, December 20, 1787 In the summer of[…]
In spite of the military genius of Hannibal, Carthage was destroyed as the result of three wars between 265 and 146 BCE. By John Gibson Warry Ancient Authorities We have now once more reached a period of history for which there is important first-hand evidence. This is provided by the work of Polybius, who was[…]
The Etruscan armies of part-time soldiers proved to be no match for the more professional and tactically dynamic Roman army. By Mark CartwrightHistorian Introduction The Etruscan civilization, which flourished in central Italy from the 8th to 3rd century BCE, gained a reputation in antiquity for being party-loving pushovers when it came to warfare, but the[…]