History & Theory Books

INTRODUCTION The most incisive comment on politics to-day is indifference. When men and women begin to feel that elections and legislatures do not matter very much, that politics is a rather distant and unimportant exercise, the reformer might as well put to himself a few searching doubts. Indifference is a criticism that cuts beneath oppositions and wranglings by calling the political method itself... more...

To the Senate and House of Representatives: The Constitution requires that the President "shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." In complying with that requirement I wish to emphasize that during the past year the Nation has continued to grow in strength;... more...

LETTER I.—TO LEVI LINCOLN, August 30, 1803TO LEVI LINCOLN.Monticello, August 30, 1803. Deak. Sir, The enclosed letter came to hand by yesterday's post. You will be sensible of the circumstances which make it improper that I should hazard a formal answer, as well as of the desire its friendly aspect naturally excites, that those concerned in it should understand that the spirit they express is... more...

MEMOIR OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, is the fourth son of Garret,second Earl of Mornington, by Anne, the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill,Viscount Dungannon. He was borne at Dangan Castle, in the county ofMeath, Ireland, on the 1st of May, 1769. As in the case of many of the chief nobility and landholders in Ireland, the ancestors of the Duke were scions of an... more...

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: An appalling calamity has befallen the American people since their chosen representatives last met in the halls where you are now assembled. We might else recall with unalloyed content the rare prosperity with which throughout the year the nation has been blessed. Its harvests have been plenteous; its varied industries have thriven; the... more...

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: I was for some time apprehensive that it would be necessary, on account of the contagious sickness which afflicted the city of Philadelphia, to convene the National Legislature at some other place. This measure it was desirable to avoid, because it would occasion much public inconvenience and a considerable public expense and add to... more...

To the Senate and House of Representatives: The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in that city on the fourteenth of that month. Of the last seven elected Presidents, he is the third who has been murdered, and the bare recital of this... more...

What the feast of the Passover was to the children of Israel, that the days between the nineteenth of December and the fourth of January—the Yuletide—are and will remain to the people of New England. The Passover began "in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month at even," and it lasted one week, "until the one and twentieth day of the month at even." It was the period of... more...

Tonight, I come not to speak about the "State of the Government", not to detail every new initiative we plan for the coming year, nor describe every line in the budget. I'm here to speak to you and to the American people about the State of the Union about our world, the changes we've seen, the challenges we face. And what that means for America. There are singular moments in history,... more...

PREFACE There is an increasing demand for a textbook which will bring the student into direct contact with the great current issues of American life, and which will afford practical training to those who soon must grapple with the economic, social, and political problems of our own time. It is with the hope of meeting such a demand that this text has been prepared. The plan of the book calls for a word... more...