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Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty, and French Fries
Thomas Jefferson and Julia Child. Not two people you’d expect to be linked in history. But yet, indeed they are—as two gourmets who loved…
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The Day Notre-Dame Cathedral Hosted Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and King Louis XVI
1785 was a rare year in Paris—it was safely nestled between revolutions. The American Revolution had come to an official end right there in…
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The Early Years: John Adams Lists Abigail’s Faults and Abigail Replies!
As a young country lawyer, John Adams thought he seemed to lack focus. “Ballast is what I want, I totter, with every Breeze. My…
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The First Countries to Diplomatically Recognize the United States
“Diplomacy is seduction in guise …”, whispered Benjamin Franklin to his fellow commissioner John Adams. “One improves with practice.” Although the quote isn’t real…
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The Scandalous Divorce Case that Influenced the Declaration of Independence
During the hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1776, the writing of the Declaration of Independence was just another Congressional housekeeping chore which the delegates…
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The Complex Character of John Paul Jones and his Polite Home Invasion
To British aristocracy, John Paul Jones was a thieving rebel and a Scotch-borne traitor to the Empire. To seacoast citizens of the British Isles,…
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The Remarkable Spanish Pilgrimage of John Adams
The ship carrying John Adams was sinking in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! The awful thought must have been crippling for Adams, chosen…
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How Yorktown Almost Couldn’t Afford to Happen
Gen. George Washington, from the point of view of Americans being trapped at “York,”[1] wrote these prophetic words- These by being upon a narrow…
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The Truth About George Washington and Hemp
Did George Washington grow hemp? Yes. Hemp was a well-known, multi-purpose crop. Did George Washington smoke hemp? There’s absolutely zero evidence that he grew…
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Alexander Hamilton’s Extramarital Escapades
There’s a legend that in the Continental Army winter camp of Morristown, Martha Washington, who spent many winters with her husband,[1] had a prowling…
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Benjamin Franklin’s Battery of Lovers
If there was ever a theme song for Benjamin Franklin, it would definitely be the 1970 Steven Stills folk-rock ditty, “If You Can’t Be…
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Daniel Boone: Facts vs. Hearsay
In Hollywood terms, biographies of Daniel Boone might be advertised as, “Based on a true story.” Daniel Boone being known as a legendary Kentucky…
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Sexual Liberties of Thomas Jefferson
As a young man studying law in Williamsburg, Thomas Jefferson was admittedly shy and tongue tied around members of the opposite sex. One of…
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The Alleged Amorous Affairs of Washington
If there was one tall hunk that nearly all the women of the colonies swooned over (and many in England and Europe, quite likely),…
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45 Genuine George Washington Quotes During the Revolutionary War
They’re everywhere now. On the pages of social media, displayed on bumper stickers, and in the speeches of political candidates, partisan factions claim a…
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Washington Plays Hardball with the Howes
Summering on Long Island in 1776 was no vacation for Gen. George Washington. As commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, he was attempting to build…
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The Wartime Letters of Joseph and Sarah Hodgkins
“I have nothing to send you but love. I hope I shall have some money soon.”[1] So wrote Lt. Joseph Hodgkins from his “Camp…
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Hannah Caldwell’s Death: Accident or Murder?
There’s nothing like the murder of a young, innocent woman to get patriotic fervor in an uproar. The death of Jane McCrea in 1777,…
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India: The Last Battle of the American Revolutionary War
The next time you’re in a trivia contest and the question comes up, “What was the last battle of the American Revolutionary War?” the…
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9 Rules of Spying That Nathan Hale Failed to Follow
In the late summer of 1776, Nathan Hale was a handsome, tall, charismatic twenty-one-year-old school teacher from Coventry, Connecticut with no battle experience but…
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Visiting Boston’s Liberty Tree Site
“For it’s a tall old tree and a strong old tree. And we are the sons, yes, we are the sons… the sons of…
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How was the Revolutionary War paid for?
It’s one thing to make speeches about declaring independence, or to assemble militias and discuss battle tactics against the enemy. It’s quite another thing…
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Drilling Holes in George Washington’s Wooden Teeth Myth
George Washington did not chop down a cherry tree and carve wooden teeth from it. Maybe one of the most enduring myths in American…
George Washington’s Top 10 Talents According to John Adams
Crotchety old John Adams had finally had enough. It was bad enough that after George Washington’s battlefield victories at Trenton and Princeton, the idol…
Washington: Father of Two Scoops
He may have beaten the British, but by the time George Washington became president, his sweet tooth (singular tooth)[i] for tasty desserts had not…
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Henry Knox, Drug Dealer?
How many times does someone get the chance to read through the business correspondence files of one of the Founding Era’s most fascinating personalities?…
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Franklin’s Top 15 Items to Take on a Cruise
Between his voyages to England and France, Benjamin Franklin logged more transatlantic cruises than any other founder. In fact, in his lifetime, he took…
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The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge
It was January 1776. In a bold plan hatched in London to end this rebellion, General Sir Henry Clinton was to sail from New…
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Benjamin Franklin: America’s First Whistleblower
Edward Snowden and the NSA documents. Julian Assange and the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables. Daniel Elsberg and the Pentagon papers. Benjamin Franklin and the Hutchinson…
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Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 2)
THE TRIAL THAT GRIPPED THE NEW NATION The Grand Jury in Richmond determined that there was ample evidence of George Wythe Sweeney’s guilt. Virginia…
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Murder of a Declaration Signer (Part 1)
George Wythe was about the last person anybody would ever want to murder. At age 80, Wythe was an exceedingly kind and generous man…