History

It can be perfectly appropriate to discuss Lincoln’s flaws and errors. What is not rationally defensible is to demonize Lincoln by quoting him selectively and ignoring relevant historical context and facts, such as the critical fact that the Confederacy fought to preserve and strengthen the most horrifically evil institution in America’s history.

Addresses various claims of Lincoln-bashing libertarians and conservatives; presents crucial and oft-ignored facts about Lincoln, about the Founders he revered, about the state of the Union during his time, and about the Civil War; and provides the context necessary to judge Lincoln and his actions objectively.

Slade Mendenhall reviews The Conscience of the Constitution: The Declaration of Independence and the Right to Liberty, by Timothy Sandefur.

Offers a concise history of the relationships and conflicts between Aristotelianism and the three major monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; illustrates the varying degrees to which Western and Middle Eastern cultures accepted or rejected The Philosopher's ideas and attempted to mix them with religion; and shows the power of rational ideas to sustain and further human life and the power of irrational ideas to throttle and thwart it.

Alexander Hamilton, one of America’s greatest statesmen, was born January 11, 1757. Here are a few of his many vital achievements.

Two hundred forty years ago today, December 16, 1773, to protest a tea tax that implied unlimited power on the part of Britain to tax the colonies, members of the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and dumped 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. This protest was the first…

Shortly after the United States declared independence from Britain in 1776, British troops occupied New York City and, because of its pivotal location and resources, made it the center of their operations throughout the Revolutionary War. On November 25, 1783, the last remnant of British tyranny in the American colonies—its…

Richard M. Salsman reviews Mind vs. Money: The War between Intellectuals and Capitalism, by Alan S. Kahan.

Surveys the life and accomplishments of this remarkable scientist, who, “once internationally revered, is now largely unknown—remembered, if at all, only for his invention of pasteurization”; shows why “Pasteur deserves to be remembered as more than a portmanteau on the side of a milk jug” and why he ought to be remembered instead as an “adventurer of science” and as “a light that brightens more and more.”

On the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, we salute this remarkable, heroic man. http://www.youtube.com/embed/BvA0J_2ZpIQ Like this post? Join our mailing list to receive our weekly digest. And for in-depth commentary from an Objectivist perspective, subscribe to our quarterly journal, The Objective Standard. Related: Review: Lincoln Celebrating Civil War…