Portal:United States
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The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.
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"Weight Gain 4000" is the third episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 27, 1997. In the episode, the residents of South Park excitedly prepare for a visit by celebrity Kathie Lee Gifford, whom the boys' third-grade teacher Mr. Garrison plans to assassinate because of a childhood grudge. In the meantime, Cartman becomes extremely obese after constantly eating a bodybuilding supplement called Weight Gain 4000.
The episode was written and directed by series co-founders Trey Parker and Matt Stone. After the South Park pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", drew poor test audience results, Comedy Central requested a script for one more new episode before deciding whether or not to commit to a full series. The resulting script for "Weight Gain 4000" helped the network decide to pick up the show. It was the first South Park episode created completely using computers instead of construction paper. (Full article...)
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. A northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to national unity, he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Conflict between North and South continued after Pierce's presidency, and, following Abraham Lincoln's victory in the 1860 presidential election, the Southern states seceded, resulting in the American Civil War.
Pierce was born in New Hampshire; his father was state governor Benjamin Pierce. He served in the House of Representatives from 1833 until his election to the Senate, where he served from 1837 until his resignation in 1842. His private law practice was a success, and he was appointed New Hampshire's U.S. attorney in 1845. Pierce took part in the Mexican–American War as a brigadier general in the United States Army. Democrats saw him as a compromise candidate uniting Northern and Southern interests, and nominated him for president at the 1852 Democratic National Convention. He and running mate William R. King easily defeated the Whig Party ticket of Winfield Scott and William Alexander Graham in the 1852 presidential election. (Full article...)
The Turban Head eagle, also known as the Capped Bust eagle, was a ten-dollar gold piece, or eagle, struck by the United States Mint from 1795 to 1804. The piece was designed by Robert Scot, and was the first in the eagle series, which continued until the Mint ceased striking gold coins for circulation in 1933. The common name is a misnomer; Liberty does not wear a turban but a cap, believed by some to be a pileus or Phrygian cap (Liberty cap): her hair twisting around the headgear makes it resemble a turban.
The eagle was the largest denomination authorized by the Mint Act of 1792, which established the Bureau of the Mint. It was not struck until 1795, as the Mint at first struck copper and silver coins. The number of stars on the obverse was initially intended to be equal to the number of states in the Union, but with the number at 16, that idea was abandoned in favor of using 13 stars in honor of the original states. The initial reverse, featuring an eagle with a wreath in its mouth, proved unpopular and was replaced by a heraldic eagle. (Full article...)- The 2010 Sylvania 300 was a stock car racing competition that took place on September 19, 2010. Held at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, the 300-lap race was the twenty-seventh in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, as well as the first in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, which ended the season. Clint Bowyer of the Richard Childress Racing team won the race; Denny Hamlin finished second and Jamie McMurray came in third.
Brad Keselowski won the pole position, although he was almost immediately passed by Tony Stewart at the start of the race. Many Chase for the Sprint Cup participants, including Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and Hamlin, were in the top ten for most of the race, although some encountered problems in the closing laps. Stewart was leading the race with two laps remaining but ran out of fuel, giving the lead, and the win, to Bowyer. There were twenty-one lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as eight cautions during the race. (Full article...) 
She Shoulda Said 'No'! (also known as Wild Weed; The Devil's Weed; Marijuana, the Devil's Weed; and The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket) is a 1949 exploitation film that follows in the spirit of morality tales such as the 1936 films Reefer Madness and Marihuana. Directed by Sam Newfield (using the pseudonym "Sherman Scott") and starring Lila Leeds, it was originally produced to capitalize on the arrest of Leeds and Robert Mitchum on a charge of marijuana conspiracy.
The film was issued under many titles; it struggled to find a distributor until film presenter Kroger Babb picked up the rights, reissuing it as The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket. Its relative success came only after the promotional posters were redone and a story fabricated that the film was being presented in conjunction with the United States Treasury. (Full article...)- The Chase is an American television quiz show adapted from the British program of the same name. It premiered on August 6, 2013, on the Game Show Network (GSN). It was hosted by Brooke Burns and featured Mark Labbett as the "chaser" (referred to on air exclusively by his nickname "the Beast"). A revival of the show premiered on January 7, 2021, on ABC. It is hosted by Sara Haines and initially featured as the chasers Jeopardy! champions James Holzhauer (who was a contestant on the GSN version), Ken Jennings, and Brad Rutter. Labbett returned as a chaser in June 2021, before stepping down in 2022 along with Jennings. In their place are Buzzy Cohen, Brandon Blackwell, and Victoria Groce.
The American version of the show follows the same general format as the British version, but with teams of three contestants instead of four. The game is a quiz competition in which contestants attempt to win money by challenging a quizzing expert known as the chaser. Each contestant participates in an individual "chase" called the Cash Builder, in which they attempt to answer as many questions as possible in 60 seconds to earn as much money as possible to contribute to a prize fund for the team. The contestant must then answer enough questions to stay ahead of the chaser in a head-to-head competition scored on a game board; otherwise, they lose their winnings and are out. The contestants who successfully complete their individual chases without being caught advance to the Final Chase, in which they answer questions as a team playing for an equal share of the prize fund accumulated throughout the episode. (Full article...)
The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania located in downtown Harrisburg. The building was designed by architect Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 and completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the legislative chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the main building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex.
The seat of government for the state was initially in Philadelphia, then was relocated to Lancaster in 1799 and finally to Harrisburg in 1812. The current capitol, known as the Huston Capitol, is the third state capitol building built in Harrisburg. The first, the Hills Capitol, was destroyed in 1897 by a fire. The second, the Cobb Capitol, was left unfinished when funding was discontinued in 1899. (Full article...)
The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is a rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It occurs only in the U.S. state of Washington, at the middle elevations of the Olympic Peninsula. The closest relatives of this species are the hoary marmot and the Vancouver Island marmot. In 2009, it was declared the official endemic mammal of Washington state.
This marmot is about the size of a domestic cat, typically weighing about 8 kg (18 lb) in summer. The species shows the greatest sexual dimorphism found in marmots, with adult males weighing on average 23% more than females. It can be identified by a wide head, small eyes and ears, stubby legs, and a long, bushy tail. Its sharp, rounded claws aid in digging burrows. The coat color changes with the season and with age, but an adult marmot's coat is brown all over with small white areas for most of the year. (Full article...)- "All Hell Breaks Loose" is the twenty-second and finale episode of the third season of the American fantasy drama television series Charmed. Written by Brad Kern, the series' showrunner, and directed by Shannen Doherty, one of its leading actresses, "All Hell Breaks Loose" was originally broadcast on The WB on May 17, 2001.
Charmed focuses on the three Halliwell sisters, Prue (Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), who are known as the Charmed Ones, the most powerful good witches of all time. They use their powers to protect innocent lives from evil beings such as demons in San Francisco, while trying to lead normal lives. "All Hell Breaks Loose" focuses on their secret as witches getting exposed to the public after Prue and Piper are caught on tape battling the demon Shax (Michael Bailey Smith), which proves to have deadly consequences. (Full article...)
Cher (legally mononymous; /ʃɛər/ ⓘ SHAIR; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer and actress. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, bold fashion and visual presentation, and multifaceted career. Her screen roles often reflect her public image as a strong-willed, outspoken woman. An influential figure in popular culture, Cher has sustained a career spanning more than six decades through continual reinvention.
Cher rose to fame in 1965 as part of the folk rock duo Sonny & Cher, whose hit single "I Got You Babe" became emblematic of 1960s counterculture. She simultaneously launched a solo career with moody pop songs such as "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)", whose theatrical storytelling foreshadowed her 1970s US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady". After a period of acting, she released the hair metal albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989) and Love Hurts (1991), scoring international top-ten hits "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". At 52, she released the dance-pop album Believe (1998), which introduced the "Cher effect"—a stylized use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals. Its title track became 1999's number-one song in the US and the UK's best-selling single by a female artist. In the 21st century, she released her highest-charting US Billboard 200 albums, Closer to the Truth (2013) and Dancing Queen (2018), each debuting at number three. (Full article...)
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. It borders Kentucky to the west, Tennessee to the south-west, North Carolina to the south, West Virginia to the north-west, and Maryland to the north. The state's capital is Richmond and its most populous city is Virginia Beach. With a population of 8.8 million, it is the twelfth-most populous and fifteenth-most densely populated state. More than one-third of Virginia's population lives in Northern Virginia, which includes the most populous jurisdiction in the state, Fairfax County.
Eastern Virginia is part of the Atlantic Plain, and the Middle Peninsula forms the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Central Virginia lies predominantly in the Piedmont, the foothill region of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which cross the western and southwestern parts of the state. The fertile Shenandoah Valley fosters the state's most productive agricultural counties, while the economy in Northern Virginia is driven by technology companies and U.S. federal government agencies. Hampton Roads is also the site of the region's main seaport and Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. (Full article...)
The mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, the chueybird, and colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Carolina turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread North American birds and a popular gamebird, with more than 20 million birds (up to 70 million in some years) shot annually in the U.S., both for sport and meat. Its ability to sustain its population under such pressure is due to its prolific breeding; in warm areas, one pair may raise up to six broods of two young each in a single year. The wings make an unusual whistling sound upon take-off and landing, a form of sonation. The bird is a strong flier, capable of speeds up to 88 km/h (55 mph).
Mourning doves are light gray and brown and generally muted in color. Males and females are similar in appearance. The species is generally monogamous, with two squabs (young) per brood. Both parents incubate and care for the young. Mourning doves eat almost exclusively seeds, but the young are fed crop milk by their parents. (Full article...)
Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed by singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio. Reznor was the sole permanent member of the band until his frequent collaborator, English musician Atticus Ross, became an official member in 2016. The band's debut album, Pretty Hate Machine (1989), was released via TVT Records. After disagreements with TVT over how the album would be promoted, the band signed with Interscope Records and released the EP Broken (1992), followed by the albums The Downward Spiral (1994) and The Fragile (1999).
Following a hiatus, Nine Inch Nails resumed touring and released their fourth album With Teeth (2005). Following the release of the next album Year Zero (2007), the band left Interscope after a feud. Nine Inch Nails continued touring and independently released Ghosts I–IV (2008) and The Slip (2008) before a second hiatus. Their eighth album, Hesitation Marks (2013), was followed by a trilogy which consisted of the EPs Not the Actual Events (2016) and Add Violence (2017) and their ninth album Bad Witch (2018). The band simultaneously released two further installments of the Ghosts series in 2020: Ghosts V: Together and Ghosts VI: Locusts. In 2024, Nine Inch Nails announced a number of new projects through their multimedia company With Teeth; the following year, they embarked on the Peel It Back Tour and released the soundtrack to Tron: Ares. (Full article...)
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead. It was also the first military battle between aircraft carriers.
To strengthen their defensive position in the South Pacific, the Japanese decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in the Territory of Papua) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan, Operation Mo, involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. Two fleet carriers and a light carrier were assigned to provide air cover for the invasion forces, under the overall command of Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence and sent two U.S. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force to oppose the offensive, under the overall command of U.S. Admiral Frank J. Fletcher. (Full article...)
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Paul Dresser in 1897. It is among the best-selling songs of the 19th century, earning over $100,000 from sheet-music revenues. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland and Company in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad reminisce about life near Dresser's childhood home by the Wabash River in Indiana, United States. The song remained popular for decades, and the Indiana General Assembly adopted it as the official state song on March 14, 1913. The song was the basis for a 1923 film of the same title. Its longtime popularity led to the emergence of several lyrical versions, including an 1898 anti-war song and a Swedish version that was a number-one hit.
The song was composed during a transitory time in musical history when songs first began to be recorded for the phonograph. It was among the earliest pieces of popular music to be recorded. Dresser's inability to control the distribution of phonograph cylinders led him and his company to join other composers to petition the United States Congress to expand federal copyright protections over the new technology. (Full article...)- The Battle of Poison Spring, also known as the Poison Spring massacre, was fought in Ouachita County, Arkansas, on April 18, 1864, as part of the Camden Expedition, during the American Civil War. A Union force commanded by Major General Frederick Steele had moved from Little Rock, Arkansas, in support of Major General Nathaniel Banks's movement along the Red River towards Shreveport, Louisiana. Steele's objective was also Shreveport, and his men occupied Camden, Arkansas. After Banks was defeated at the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, Steele was isolated in Arkansas. Short on supplies, Steele sent a detachment commanded by Colonel James M. Williams on April 17 to forage for 5,000 bushels of corn (maize) that were reported to be in the area.
Confederate cavalry commanded by John S. Marmaduke and Samuel B. Maxey attacked the foraging party. Marmaduke's men formed a roadblock east along the way back to Camden, while Maxey's men attacked from south of the road. The first two Confederate attacks were unsuccessful, but the third broke the Union line. Williams's command was routed, losing its wagon train and four cannons. African-American soldiers from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment were massacred and mutilated during and after the battle. Poison Spring has been referred to as the worst massacre in the history of Arkansas. The defeat at Poison Spring and another defeat at the Battle of Marks' Mills a week later led Steele to retreat to Little Rock. In the April 30 Battle of Jenkins' Ferry, men from the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment murdered Confederate soldiers in revenge of the massacre at Poison Spring. Poison Springs Battleground State Park, which is part of the Camden Expedition Sites National Historic Landmark, preserves a portion of the site of the battle. (Full article...)
On September 6, 1863, near Little Rock, Arkansas, a duel was fought between John S. Marmaduke and Lucius M. Walker, two generals in the Confederate States Army. Tension had risen between the two officers during the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863, when Marmaduke accused Walker of not supporting his force, and then retaliated by not informing Walker of a Confederate retreat. Marmaduke was later assigned to serve under Walker during a Union advance against Little Rock. Walker did not support Marmaduke during a retreat after the Battle of Brownsville, and Marmaduke questioned Walker's courage after the Battle of Bayou Meto on August 27. A series of notes passed between the two generals by friends resulted in a duel, during which Marmaduke fatally wounded Walker. Marmaduke was arrested and charged with murder but was soon released, and later the charge was dropped. He survived the war and later became Governor of Missouri. Union forces captured Little Rock later in the campaign, after the Battle of Bayou Fourche. (Full article...)
Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competition climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she is famous for making the first free ascent of the difficult sheer rock face of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and for repeating it the next year in less than 24 hours. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers in the history of the sport. Hill was the first-ever female in history to redpoint a 5.12d (7c), 5.13a (7c+) and 5.14a (8b+) graded sport climbing route. Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for sex equality. Hill has publicized climbing by appearing on television shows and documentaries and writing an autobiography, Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World.
Hill was a gymnast early in life, nearly broke a world record lifting weights, and ran competitively. She took to climbing at a young age, showing a natural aptitude for the activity, and became a part of the climbing community in Southern California and Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. She traveled around the United States during the early 1980s climbing increasingly difficult routes and setting records for first female ascents and for first ascents. From 1986 to 1992 Hill was one of the world's most accomplished competition climbers, winning over thirty international titles, including five victories at the Arco Rock Master. This coincided with the era when the leading female climbers caught up with the leading men. In 1992, Hill left competitive climbing and returned to traditional climbing. She set for herself the challenge of free climbing The Nose of El Capitan, her greatest climbing feat. Hill continues to climb and has not stopped taking on ambitious climbs. As of 2013, she was a sponsored athlete for the Patagonia gear and clothing company and owned a small business that offered climbing courses. (Full article...)
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer (MLS), and Seattle Reign FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It has a seating capacity of 68,740 spectators for NFL games and 37,722 for most MLS matches. The complex also includes the Event Center, which is home to the Washington Music Theater (WaMu Theater), a parking garage, and a public plaza. Located within a mile (1.6 km) of Downtown Seattle, the stadium is accessible by multiple freeways and forms of mass transit.
The stadium was built between 2000 and 2002 on the site of the Kingdome after voters approved funding for the construction in a statewide election held in June 1997. This vote created the Washington State Public Stadium Authority to oversee public ownership of the venue. The owner of the Seahawks, Paul Allen, formed First & Goal Inc. to develop and operate the new facilities. Allen was closely involved in the design process and emphasized the importance of an open-air venue with an intimate atmosphere. Originally called Seahawks Stadium, it was renamed Qwest Field in 2004 when telecommunications carrier Qwest acquired the naming rights. The stadium became known as CenturyLink Field following Qwest's June 2011 acquisition by CenturyLink and was nicknamed "The Clink" as a result; it received its current name in November 2020 with CenturyLink's rebrand to Lumen Technologies. (Full article...)
The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, was the fourth aircraft carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was also the fourth major naval engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the lengthy and strategically important Guadalcanal campaign. As in the battles of the Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomons, the ships of the two adversaries were rarely in sight or gun range of each other. Instead, almost all attacks by both sides were mounted by carrier- or land-based aircraft.
In an attempt to drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal and nearby islands and end the stalemate that had existed since September 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army planned a major ground offensive on Guadalcanal for 20–25 October 1942. In support of this offensive, and with the hope of engaging Allied naval forces, Japanese carriers and other large warships moved into a position near the southern Solomon Islands. From this location, the Japanese naval forces hoped to engage and decisively defeat any Allied (primarily US) naval forces, especially carrier forces, that responded to the ground offensive. Allied naval forces also hoped to meet the Japanese naval forces in battle, with the same objectives of breaking the stalemate and decisively defeating their adversary. (Full article...)
On September 3, 1991, an industrial fire caused by a failed improvised repair to a hydraulic line destroyed the Imperial Food Products chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina, United States. Despite three previous fires in 11 years of operation, the plant had never received a safety inspection. The fire killed 25 people and injured 54, many of whom were unable to escape due to locked exits. It was the second deadliest industrial disaster in North Carolina's history.
Imperial Food Products was a corporation owned by Emmett Roe, who acquired the Hamlet facility in 1980 to produce chicken products. The company had a poor safety record at one of its other plants, and the Hamlet building lacked a fire alarm or an operational fire sprinkler system. For reasons that remain disputed, Roe ordered several exterior doors of the plant locked in the summer of 1991—including a labeled fire exit—in violation of federal safety regulations and without notifying most workers. In September, the plant's maintenance workers attempted to replace a leaking hydraulic line, attached to the conveyor belt which fed chicken tenders into a fryer in the processing room, with improvised parts. On September 3 at around 8:15 am, they turned on the conveyor belt after altering the line; it separated from its connection and spewed hydraulic fluid around the room. The fluid vaporized and was ignited by the fryer's flame. Fire engulfed the facility in minutes, severing telephone lines and filling the plant with hydrocarbon-charged smoke and carbon monoxide. (Full article...)
James Madison (March 16, 1751 [O.S. March 5, 1750] – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed as the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
Madison was born into a prominent slave-owning planter family in Virginia. In 1774, strongly opposed to British taxation, Madison joined with the Patriots. He was a member of both the Virginia House of Delegates and the Continental Congress during and after the American Revolutionary War. Dissatisfied with the weak national government established by the Articles of Confederation, he helped organize the Constitutional Convention, which produced a new constitution designed to strengthen republican government against democratic assembly. Madison's Virginia Plan was the basis for the convention's deliberations. He became one of the leaders in the movement to ratify the Constitution and joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in writing The Federalist Papers, a series of pro-ratification essays that remain prominent among works of political science in American history. (Full article...)
John Silva Meehan (February 6, 1790 – April 24, 1863) was an American publisher, printer, and newspaper editor. He served as the librarian of Congress from 1829 to 1861.
Born in New York City, Meehan worked as a printer in his youth. He briefly served in the U.S. Navy during the last few months of the War of 1812. He returned without seeing combat and began work as a publisher in Philadelphia alongside fellow printer Robert Anderson, publishing a Baptist religious journal. After the firm moved to Washington, D.C., in early 1822, Meehan began editing and publishing the Baptist weekly newspaper The Columbian Star. Leaving the Star in late 1825, Meehan nominally purchased the City of Washington Gazette on direction from Andrew Jackson's presidential campaign, renaming the paper the United States' Telegraph and taking an immensely partisan stance. Jackson supporters considered Meehan unable to properly spearhead the press campaign. Control over the paper gradually shifted towards editor and publisher Duff Green, with Meehan officially leaving the paper in October 1826; however, he continued to serve as Green's editorial assistant until 1829. (Full article...)
The Jordan River is a 51.4-mile-long (82.7 km) river in the U.S. state of Utah. Regulated by pumps at its headwaters at Utah Lake, it flows northward through the Salt Lake Valley and empties into the Great Salt Lake. Four of Utah's six largest cities border the river: Salt Lake City, West Valley City, West Jordan, and Sandy. More than a million people live in the Jordan Subbasin, part of the Jordan River watershed that lies within Salt Lake and Utah counties. During the Pleistocene, the area was part of Lake Bonneville.
Members of the Desert Archaic Culture were the earliest known inhabitants of the region; an archaeological site found along the river dates back 3,000 years. Mormon pioneers led by Brigham Young were the first European American settlers, arriving in July 1847 and establishing farms and settlements along the river and its tributaries. The growing population, needing water for drinking, irrigation, and industrial use in an arid climate, dug ditches and canals, built dams, and installed pumps to create a highly regulated river. (Full article...)
A 1980 Grant Wood one ounce gold medallion
American Arts Commemorative Series Medallions are a series of ten gold bullion medallions that were produced by the United States Mint from 1980 to 1984. They were sold to compete with the South African Krugerrand and other bullion coins.
The series was proposed by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms after the United States Department of the Treasury began selling portions of the national stockpile of gold. Iowa Representative Jim Leach suggested that the medallions depict notable American artists. President Jimmy Carter signed the bill containing the authorizing legislation into law on November 10, 1978, despite objections from Treasury officials. (Full article...)
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
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Washington was chosen to be the commander-in-chief of the American revolutionary forces in 1775. The following year, he forced the British out of Boston, but was defeated when he lost New York City later that year. He revived the patriot cause, however, by crossing the Delaware River in New Jersey and defeating the surprised enemy units. As a result of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured the two main British combat armies — Saratoga and Yorktown. Negotiating with Congress, the colonial states, and French allies, he held together a tenuous army and a fragile nation amid the threats of disintegration and failure. Following the end of the American Revolution in 1783, Washington retired to his plantation on Mount Vernon.
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Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew ShivaChester A. Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 21st President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Born in Vermont and raised in upstate New York, Arthur practiced law in New York City before serving as a quartermaster general in the Civil War. He became active in the Republican party after the war, was elected vice president on the ticket of President James A. Garfield, and assumed the presidency upon Garfield's assassination six months into his presidency. He effected a reform of the civil service during his presidency, as well as navy reform and an act to prohibit immigration by Chinese laborers and deny citizenship to those already in the US. Due to his poor health, Arthur did not seek a second term.
Check used for the Alaska PurchaseCheck: William H. Seward; scan: Our Documents initiativeThe check used for the Alaska Purchase, issued on August 1, 1868, and signed by US Secretary of State William H. Seward. For a total of $7.2 million, the United States government purchased Russian America from the Russian Empire (represented here by Russian Minister to the United States Eduard de Stoeckl). The lands involved became the modern state of Alaska in 1959.
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaJames Buchanan (April 23, 1791 – June 1, 1868) served as President of the United States for a single term from 1857 to 1861. He was unable to calm the growing sectional crisis that would divide the nation. In the midst of the growing chasm between slave states and free states, the Panic of 1857 occurred, causing widespread business failures and high unemployment. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven Southern states declared their secession from the Union, a crisis which culminated in the outbreak of the American Civil War shortly after Buchanan left office. Buchanan is consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents in the country's history.
Photograph: Unknown; Restoration: Chick BowenA pile of American bison skulls, waiting to be ground for fertilizer; a man stands atop the pile, with another in front of it. Bison, long a staple of Plains Indian tribal culture, were aggressively hunted by European settlers in the United States, nearly leading to the extinction of the species.
Lithographer: Joseph E. Baker; Restoration: Lise BroerA fanciful 1892 lithograph of the Salem witch trials. The trials, which took place between February 1692 and May 1693 in colonial Massachusetts, involved people accused of witchcraft, and have been used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of religious extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process, and governmental intrusion on individual liberties.
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaJames Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat and philosopher who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. He is widely considered to be one of the most important Founding Fathers of the United States, and historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president.
This picture is a line engraving of Madison, produced around 1902 by the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) as part of a BEP presentation album of the first 26 presidents, which was reportedly given to Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage.
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew ShivaZachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was the 12th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1849, until his death in office the following year. He was previously a career officer in the United States Army, rose to the rank of major general and became a national hero as a result of his victories in the Mexican–American War. As a result, he won election to the White House despite his vague political beliefs.
On July 4, 1850, Taylor reportedly consumed copious amounts of raw fruit and iced milk while attending holiday celebrations during a fundraising event at the Washington Monument. Over the course of several days, he became severely ill with an unknown digestive ailment, several of his cabinet members being similarly affected. Despite treatment, Taylor died five days later. His vice-president Millard Fillmore assumed the presidency and completed his term in office.
Seals of the U.S. states (1876)Image credit: A.J. Connell Litho.A lithograph from 1876, showing the seals of the then-47 U.S. states and territories as well as the District of Columbia. Some of these seals have changed since this image was created.
Photo credit: U.S. Army Forces Strategic CommandThe LG-118A Peacekeeper missile system being tested at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The Peacekeeper can carry up to ten re-entry vehicles, each armed with a nuclear warhead with the explosive power of up to 300 kilotons, 25 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II). Under the unratified START II treaty, all are to be removed from service by 2005.
Photograph credit: James J. Williams; restored by Adam CuerdenLiliʻuokalani (September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917) was the only queen regnant and the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She ascended to the throne on January 29, 1891, nine days after the death of her brother King Kalākaua. During her reign, she attempted to draft a new constitution in 1893 that would restore the power of the monarchy and the voting rights of the economically disenfranchised. Threatened by her attempts to abrogate the 1887 Bayonet Constitution, pro-American elements in Hawaii overthrew the monarchy on January 17, 1893. She was placed under house arrest, was forced to abdicate the Hawaiian throne and lived the rest of her life as a private citizen. This photograph of Liliʻuokalani was signed by the queen herself and addressed to Josephus Daniels, United States Secretary of the Navy.
Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing, after John Vanderlyn; restored by Andrew ShivaArtists producing banknotes in Colonial America began experimenting with copper plates as an alternative to wood engraving in the early 18th century. Applied to the production of paper currency, copper-plate engraving, and later steel engraving, enabled banknote design and printing to rapidly advance during the 19th century. This engraved vignette appeared on certain United States five-dollar bills issued in 1875. Produced for the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the engraving is of John Vanderlyn's painting Landing of Columbus, which hangs in the United States Capitol rotunda. It depicts Christopher Columbus landing on San Salvador Island on October 12, 1492, on the first of his voyages to the New World.
Map: Private Robert K. Sneden, mapmaker for Samuel P. Heintzelman's III CorpsThe Battle of Malvern Hill was fought on July 1, 1862, between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac. It was the final battle of the Seven Days Battles during the American Civil War, taking place on Malvern Hill near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. Including inactive reserves, more than fifty thousand soldiers from each side took part, using more than two hundred pieces of artillery and three warships. The battle resulted in a tactical victory for the Union side, but the Confederates claimed a strategic victory as the Union failed to go on to capture Richmond.
This is a map of the night's march undertaken by the Union forces after the battle.
Photo credit: CacophonyThe skyline of Seattle, Washington at dusk, viewed from the south. The Columbia Center (middle) is the second tallest building on the West Coast of the United States, and the twelfth tallest in the United States. Smith Tower (left), completed 1914, was at one time the fourth tallest building in the world. The highway in the foreground is Interstate 5.
Photo credit: United States ArmyAfter being forced to leave the Philippines after the Japanese victory in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur vowed, "I shall return." 31 months later, he waded ashore at Palo Beach at the outset of the Battle of Leyte, fulfilling his pledge as the United States retook the island.
Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew ShivaJames Monroe (1758–1831) was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Monroe was the last president of the Virginia dynasty, and his presidency ushered in what is known as the Era of Good Feelings. An anti-federalist, Monroe had opposed ratification of the United States Constitution, claiming it gave too much power to the central government. After time as a senator in the first United States Congress and as Governor of Virginia, Monroe was easily elected president in 1816, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. During his presidency, he sought to ease partisan tensions and extend the country's reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He also supported the founding of colonies in Africa for freed slaves, and his declaration of the Monroe Doctrine became a landmark in American foreign policy.
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Selected culture biography -
Poe and his works influenced literature in the United States and around the world, as well as in specialized fields, such as cosmology and cryptography. Poe and his work appear throughout popular culture in literature, music, films, and television. A number of his homes are dedicated museums today.
Selected location -
Louisville is situated in north-central Kentucky on the Kentucky-Indiana border at the only natural obstacle in the Ohio River, the Falls of the Ohio. Although situated in a Southern state, Louisville is influenced by both Midwestern and Southern culture, and is commonly referred to as either the northernmost Southern city or the southernmost Northern city in the United States.
Louisville has been the site of many important innovations through history. Notable residents have included inventor Thomas Edison, the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, newscaster Diane Sawyer, writer Hunter S. Thompson, and actor Tom Cruise. Notable events occurring in the city include the first public viewing place of Edison's light bulb, the first library open to African Americans in the South, and medical advances including the first human hand transplant, the first self-contained artificial heart transplant and the development site of the first cervical cancer vaccine.
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for May 4
- 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the ship See Meeuw.
- 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
- 1865 – Abraham Lincoln buried in Springfield, Illinois, three weeks after his assassination.
- 1904 – Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal.
- 1961 – The "Freedom Riders" (member pictured) begin a bus trip through the South.
- 1970 – The Ohio National Guard are sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, and subsequently open fire on students protesting at the American invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed and nine are wounded.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the American South from the cuisines of enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, soul food is closely associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States. The expression "soul food" originated in the mid-1960s when "soul" was a common word used to describe African-American culture. Soul food uses cooking techniques and ingredients from West African, Central African, Western European, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas. (Full article...)
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More did you know? -
- ...that Vermont coppers (pictured) were the currency used in Vermont before it became a U.S. state in 1791?
- ...that Lighthouse Hill on Staten Island got its name from the Staten Island Lighthouse, built in 1912, which towers 141 feet (43 meters) above the Lower New York Bay and can be seen as far as 18 miles (29 km) away?
- ...that Lucy Hobbs Taylor was the first female dentist in the United States?
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