A History of North America – Page 8

John Brown and his body

The hanging of old John Brown / civiliansscholars.com

“John Brown’s body lies a mouldr’n in his grave . . .” The words and music are American, but the song remembering Brown and what happened to him is truly international. In the Spanish Catholic church there is even a hymn sung to the same music, though few priests will admit it.

Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut in 1800. His family was religious, and strongly affected by insanity. As he grew up he became convinced that he had been placed on Earth especially by God to save the blacks and abolish slavery. In 1851, at Springfield, Mass., he organised a black defence group called The League of Gileadites, trained to attack slave-catchers, help escaped slaves to the North on the ’Underground Railroad’, and prevent captured slaves from being returned to the South. As part of a band of the Free Soilers, in 1856 his men savagely murdered five pro-slavery farmers at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-10-31T09:19:08+00:00 October 31st, 2012|A History of North America, US History, World History|0 Comments

The League of Nations

This preamble to the United Nations has vanished without trace. It was one of the oddest disasters waiting to happen the world has ever seen. It appeared after the Treaty of Versailles (1918 – 25) had sealed the fate of this planet. Indeed its creation was the last and most important of President Woodrow Wilson of the United States’ famous ‘Fourteen Points’. Wilson insisted that it should appear in each one of the peace treaties, covering the Covenent or Constitution of the League. But then the United States itself refused to join. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-10-22T09:48:19+00:00 October 22nd, 2012|A History of North America, British History, French History, German History, Greek History, History of China, History of Czechoslovakia, History of Finland, Italian History, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

Switzerland: where Italians, Frenchmen & Germans don’t bother with nationalism

A half-dozen of the planet’s most important countries are now infected by the nationalist mosquito. Europe (after the Second War) invented a large country called Yugoslavia which has again been divided into different nations in order to provide more jobs for high-earning politicians as well as to keep Balkan nations from reaching for each other’s throat. Spain has its autonomous community Cataluña itching for total independence, and threatening the country’s elected government in everything from school curriculuae to the language to be spoken in the courtroom. Scotland already has its own Parliament in Edinburgh, where no seats are held by anyone English. The British Parliament in Westminster has a multitude of seats occupied by Scotsmen. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-10-16T13:15:52+00:00 October 16th, 2012|A History of North America, Austrian history, British History, English History, EU History, French History, German History, History in The Balkans, History of the Low Countries, Italian History, Philosophy, Russian history, Scottish history, Today|0 Comments