1.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
Puck (magazine)
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Puck was the first successful humor magazine in the United States of colorful cartoons, caricatures and political satire of the issues of the day. It was published from 1871 until 1918, a collection of Puck cartoons dating from 1879 to 1903 is maintained by the Special Collections Research Center of The George Washington University. The weekly magazine was founded by Joseph Ferdinand Keppler in St. Louis and it began publishing English and German language editions in March 1871. Five years later, the German edition of Puck moved to New York City, the English language edition soon followed on March 14,1877. The publication lasted two years, the final edition was distributed September 5,1918. A typical 32-page issue contained a political cartoon on the front cover. There was always a double-page color centerfold, usually on a political topic, there were numerous black-and-white cartoons used to illustrate humorous anecdotes. A page of editorials commented on the issues of the day, and this led Shakespeares Puck character to be recast as a charming near-naked boy and used as the title of the magazine. Puck was the first magazine to carry illustrated advertising and the first to successfully adopt full-color lithography printing for a weekly publication, the magazine consisted of 16 pages measuring 10 inches by 13.5 inches with front and back covers in color and a color double-page centerfold. The cover always quoted Puck saying, What fools these mortals be, the jaunty symbol of Puck is conceived as a putto in a top hat who admires himself in a hand-mirror. He appears not only on the magazine covers but over the entrance to the Puck Building in New Yorks Nolita neighborhood, in May 1893, Puck Press published A Selection of Cartoons from Puck by Joseph Keppler featuring 56 cartoons chosen by Keppler as his best work. Also during 1893, Keppler temporarily moved to Chicago and published a smaller-format, shortly thereafter, Joseph Keppler died, and Henry Cuyler Bunner, editor of Puck since 1877 continued the magazine until his own death in 1896. Harry Leon Wilson replaced Bunner and remained editor until he resigned in 1902, Joseph Keppler, Jr. then became the editor. S. Pughe, Rose ONeill, Charles Taylor, James Albert Wales and its prime targets, however, were not just corrupt machine politicians. The magazine included as well what it, like the letterpress, condemned as the political agenda of the Catholic Church, especially its new Pope. If allowed to proceed unimpeded, the pope and his minions, along with Tammanys bosses and supporters, Puck was not about to let that happen. In cartoons and editorials spanning two decades, the magazine blasted and often conjoined both Tammany and the papacy with invidious comparisons that left few readers in doubt as to their sympathies. Puck was housed from 1887 in the landmark Chicago-style, Romanesque Revival Puck Building at Lafayette and Houston streets, the steel-frame building was designed by architects Albert and Herman Wagner in 1885, as the worlds largest lithographic pressworks under a single roof, with its own electricity-generating dynamo
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Bernhard Gillam
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Bernhard Gillam was an English-born American political cartoonist. Gillam was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire and he arrived in New York with his parents in 1866. He worked as a copyist in an office, but switched to the study of engraving. Gillam also produced work for Judge, a magazine of which he became director-in-chief in 1886, gillams cartoons on James G. Blaine during the 1884 US presidential campaign played a large part in Grover Clevelands election to office. Phryne before the Chicago Tribunal, which appeared in the Puck issue of June 4,1884, Blaine threatened legal action, but backed down on the advice of his political friends. Oddly, Gillam was a Republican who voted for Blaine in 1884, during the presidential campaigns of 1888 and 1892, Gillam’s cartoons depicted the dangers of the free-trade policy of the Democrats and the benefits of Republican protectionism. Bernhard Gillam died in Canajoharie, New York, of fever in 1896. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
4.
Grover Cleveland
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Stephen Grover Cleveland was an American politician and lawyer who was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. He was also the first and to date only President in American history to serve two terms in office. Cleveland was the leader of the pro-business Bourbon Democrats who opposed high tariffs, Free Silver, inflation, imperialism and his crusade for political reform and fiscal conservatism made him an icon for American conservatives of the era. Cleveland won praise for his honesty, self-reliance, integrity, and he fought political corruption, patronage, and bossism. As a reformer Cleveland had such prestige that the wing of the Republican Party, called Mugwumps, largely bolted the GOP presidential ticket. As his second administration began, disaster hit the nation when the Panic of 1893 produced a national depression. It ruined his Democratic Party, opening the way for a Republican landslide in 1894 and for the agrarian, the result was a political realignment that ended the Third Party System and launched the Fourth Party System and the Progressive Era. Cleveland was a formidable policymaker, and he also drew corresponding criticism, critics complained that Cleveland had little imagination and seemed overwhelmed by the nations economic disasters—depressions and strikes—in his second term. Even so, his reputation for probity and good character survived the troubles of his second term, biographer Allan Nevins wrote, n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have and he possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not, today, Cleveland is considered by most historians to have been a successful leader, generally ranked among the second tier of American presidents. Stephen Grover Cleveland was born on March 18,1837, in Caldwell, New Jersey to Richard Falley Cleveland, Clevelands father was a Presbyterian minister who was originally from Connecticut. His mother was from Baltimore and was the daughter of a bookseller, on his fathers side, Cleveland was descended from English ancestors, the first of the family having emigrated to Massachusetts from Cleveland, England in 1635. On his mothers side, he was descended from Anglo-Irish Protestants and he was distantly related to General Moses Cleaveland, after whom the city of Cleveland, Ohio, was named. Cleveland, the fifth of nine children, was named Stephen Grover in honor of the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Caldwell and he became known as Grover in his adult life. In 1841, the Cleveland family moved to Fayetteville, New York, neighbors later described him as full of fun and inclined to play pranks, and fond of outdoor sports. In 1850, Clevelands father took a pastorate in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, despite his fathers dedication to his missionary work, the income was insufficient for the large family. Financial conditions forced him to remove Grover from school into a mercantile apprenticeship in Fayetteville
5.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
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William McKinley
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McKinley was the last president to have served in the American Civil War, beginning as a private in the Union Army and ending as a brevet major. After the war, he settled in Canton, Ohio, where he practiced law, in 1876, he was elected to Congress, where he became the Republican Partys expert on the protective tariff, which he promised would bring prosperity. His 1890 McKinley Tariff was highly controversial, which together with a Democratic redistricting aimed at gerrymandering him out of office and he was elected Ohios governor in 1891 and 1893, steering a moderate course between capital and labor interests. With the aid of his close adviser Mark Hanna, he secured the Republican nomination for president in 1896 and he defeated his Democratic rival, William Jennings Bryan, after a front-porch campaign in which he advocated sound money and promised that high tariffs would restore prosperity. Rapid economic growth marked McKinleys presidency and he promoted the 1897 Dingley Tariff to protect manufacturers and factory workers from foreign competition, and in 1900, he secured the passage of the Gold Standard Act. The United States annexed the independent Republic of Hawaii in 1898, McKinley defeated Bryan again in the 1900 presidential election, in a campaign focused on imperialism, protectionism, and free silver. William McKinley, Jr. was born in 1843 in Niles, Ohio, there, the elder McKinley was born in Pine Township, Mercer County. The family moved to Ohio when the senior McKinley was a boy and he met Nancy Allison there, and married her later. The Allison family was of mostly English descent and among Pennsylvanias earliest settlers, the family trade on both sides was iron-making, and McKinley senior operated foundries throughout Ohio, in New Lisbon, Niles, Poland, and finally Canton. The McKinley household was, like many from Ohios Western Reserve, steeped in Whiggish and abolitionist sentiment, William followed in the Methodist tradition, becoming active in the local Methodist church at the age of sixteen. He was a lifelong pious Methodist, in 1852, the family moved from Niles to Poland, Ohio so that their children could attend the better schools there. Graduating in 1859, he enrolled the following year at Allegheny College in Meadville and he remained at Allegheny for only one year, returning home in 1860 after becoming ill and depressed. He also spent time at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio and he did not graduate from either university. Although his health recovered, family finances declined and McKinley was unable to return to Allegheny, first working as a clerk and later taking a job teaching at a school near Poland. When the Southern states seceded from the Union and the American Civil War began, among them were McKinley and his cousin William McKinley Osbourne, who enlisted as privates in the newly formed Poland Guards in June 1861. The men left for Columbus where they were consolidated with other units to form the 23rd Ohio Infantry. The men were unhappy to learn that, unlike Ohios earlier volunteer regiments, they would not be permitted to elect their officers, they would be designated by Ohios governor, William Dennison. Dennison appointed Colonel William Rosecrans as the commander of the regiment, McKinley quickly took to the soldiers life and wrote a series of letters to his hometown newspaper extolling the army and the Union cause
7.
Edward Anthony (writer)
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Edward Anthony was an American journalist and writer who co-wrote Frank Buck’s first two books, Bring Em Back Alive, and Wild Cargo. After completing four years of school, according to the 1940 US Census, Anthony got his start as a journalist on The Bridgeport Herald. An associate editor for a time of Judge, the humor magazine, Anthony joined the staff of the Crowell group of magazines, later Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. In 1928, he served as Eastern press director for Herbert Hoovers presidential campaign, of Frank Buck’s three co-authors, Anthony was most talented at imparting immediacy and freshness to Frank Buck’s narrative. Anthony wrote Buck’s stories in a modest, matter-of-fact, all-in-a-day’s-work fashion, with his knack for eliciting telling details, Anthony created a real sense of drama, and as a result, Frank Buck’s first two books are his best. In his autobiography, Anthony describes his collaborator, Frank Buck was a first-class actor and his pantomimic footnotes to some of his verbal explanations were most effective. One night during a session on the book our room in the hotel got stuffy—we both had been smoking for hours—so we opened the door wide and put a chair against it to start the air circulating. Granite State en route from Calcutta to San Francisco and was roaming the ship while nearly everyone fled for cover. As he was about to leap at his victim he heard a sound in the hall and looking up he saw that he was playing to a gallery. —a bellboy and several patrons. He saw the humor of the situation, gave vent to a hearty soure cabatcha. yes, said Buck, and our gallery vanished. Anthony wrote or co-wrote other books, among them The Big Cage with the animal trainer Clyde Beatty. Anthony was the publisher of Womans Home Companion, 1942–52 and of Colliers from 1949 to 1954, Anthony wrote an autobiography, This is where I came in, the impromptu confessions of Edward Anthony. Edward Anthony Papers, Princeton University Library TIME review of Wild Cargo TIME review of Bring Em Back Alive
8.
George Washington University
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The George Washington University is a private research university in Washington, D. C. GW is the largest institution of education in Washington, D. C. In his will, Washington left his 50 shares in the Potomac Company to help endow the university, however, due to the companys financial difficulties, the funding did not materialize. The university was chartered by an act of Congress on February 9,1821 and its name was changed to Columbian University in 1873 and to the George Washington University in 1904, in honor of Washington. GWs Graduate School of Political Management is the school of applied politics in the nations capital. GWs professional schools and the Elliott School of International Affairs are consistently ranked highly in national and international college rankings lists, the Princeton Review consistently ranks GW as one of the Most Politically Active schools. Some of the graduates have gone on to high positions within both the U. S. government and foreign governments. Notable alumni include former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and he presented numerous letters to Congress and included the subject in his last will and testament. Baptist missionary and leading minister Luther Rice raised funds to purchase a site in Washington, the first commencement in 1824 was considered an important event for the young city of Washington, D. C. In attendance were President Monroe, John C, Calhoun, Henry Clay, Marquis de Lafayette and other dignitaries. During the Civil War, most students left to join the Confederacy, walt Whitman was among many of the volunteers to work on the campus. Following the war, in 1873, Columbian College became the Columbian University and moved to a downtown location centered on 15th and H streets. The university moved its operations to the D. C. neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in 1912. The George Washington University, like much of Washington, D. C. traces many of its origins back to the Freemasons, the Bible that the presidents of the university use to swear an oath on upon inauguration is the Bible of Freemason George Washington. Freemasonry symbols are displayed throughout the campus including the foundation stones of many of the university buildings. Many of the Colleges of the George Washington University stand out for their age, the Law School is the oldest law school in the District of Columbia. The School of Medicine and Health Sciences is the 11th oldest medical school in the nation, the Columbian College was founded in 1821, and is the oldest unit of the university. The Elliott School of International Affairs was formalized in 1898, the majority of the present infrastructure and financial stability at GW is due to the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg
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William Jennings Bryan
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He served two terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Nebraska and was United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. He resigned because of his pacifist position on World War I. Bryan was a devout Presbyterian, an advocate of popular democracy, and an enemy of the banks. He demanded Free Silver because he believed it undermined the evil Money Power and he was a peace advocate, a supporter of Prohibition, and an opponent of Darwinism on religious and humanitarian grounds. With his deep, commanding voice and wide travels, he was perhaps the best-known orator, because of his faith in the wisdom of the common people, he was called The Great Commoner. In the intensely fought 1896 and 1900 elections, he was defeated by William McKinley, with over 500 speeches in 1896, Bryan invented the national stumping tour in an era when other presidential candidates stayed home. President Wilson appointed him Secretary of State in 1913, after the Lusitania was torpedoed in 1915, Wilson made strong demands on Germany that Bryan disagreed with, resigning in protest as a pacifist. After 1920, he turned to Christian fundamentalism, he supported Prohibition and attacked Darwinism and evolution, five days after the conclusion of the Scopes case, Bryan died in his sleep. William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois, on March 19,1860, to Silas Lillard Bryan, Bryans mother was of English heritage. Mary Bryan joined the Salem Baptists in 1872, so Bryan attended Methodist services on Sunday morning with his father, at this point, William began spending his Sunday afternoons at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. At age 14, Bryan attended a revival, was baptized, in later life, Bryan said the day of his baptism was the most important day in his life, but at the time it caused little change in his daily routine. In 1906, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church joined the larger Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and his father, Silas Bryan, of Scots-Irish and English ancestry, was an avid Jacksonian Democrat. Silas won election to the Illinois State Senate, but was defeated for re-election in 1860. He won election as a circuit judge, and in 1866 moved his family to a 520-acre farm north of Salem. Until age ten, Bryan was home-schooled, as children were. The Bible and McGuffey Readers shaped his views that gambling and liquor were evil, to attend Whipple Academy, which was attached to Illinois College, Bryan was sent to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1874. Following high school, he entered Illinois College, graduating as valedictorian in 1881, during his time at Illinois College, Bryan was a member of the Sigma Pi literary society. He studied law at Union Law College in Chicago, while preparing for the bar exam, he taught high school and met Mary Elizabeth Baird, a cousin of William Sherman Jennings, the latter was also his own first-cousin. Bryan and Mary Elizabeth Baird married on October 1,1884, and they settled in Jacksonville, Mary also became a lawyer, and collaborated with Bryan on all his speeches and writings
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Theodore Roosevelt
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Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, naturalist, and reformer who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. As a leader of the Republican Party during this time, he became a force for the Progressive Era in the United States in the early 20th century. Born a sickly child with debilitating asthma, Roosevelt successfully overcame his health problems by embracing a strenuous lifestyle and he integrated his exuberant personality, vast range of interests, and world-famous achievements into a cowboy persona defined by robust masculinity. Home-schooled, he began a lifelong naturalist avocation before attending Harvard College and his first of many books, The Naval War of 1812, established his reputation as both a learned historian and as a popular writer. Upon entering politics, he became the leader of the faction of Republicans in New Yorks state legislature. Returning a war hero, he was elected governor of New York in 1898, the state party leadership distrusted him, so they took the lead in moving him to the prestigious but powerless role of vice presidential candidate as McKinleys running mate in the election of 1900. Roosevelt campaigned vigorously across the country, helping McKinleys re-election in a victory based on a platform of peace, prosperity. Following the assassination of President McKinley in September 1901, Roosevelt succeeded to the office at age 42, making conservation a top priority, he established a myriad of new national parks, forests, and monuments intended to preserve the nations natural resources. In foreign policy, he focused on Central America, where he began construction of the Panama Canal and he greatly expanded the United States Navy and sent the Great White Fleet on a world tour to project the United States naval power around the globe. His successful efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War won him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, elected in 1904 to a full term, Roosevelt continued to promote progressive policies, but many of his efforts and much of his legislative agenda were eventually blocked in Congress. Roosevelt successfully groomed his close friend, William Howard Taft, to succeed him in the presidency, after leaving office, Roosevelt went on safari in Africa and toured Europe. Returning to the United States, he became frustrated with Tafts approach, failing to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1912, Roosevelt founded his own party, the Progressive, so-called Bull Moose Party, and called for wide-ranging progressive reforms. The split among Republicans enabled the Democrats to win both the White House and a majority in the Congress in 1912, Republicans aligned with Taft nationally would control the Republican Party for decades. Frustrated at home, Roosevelt led an expedition to the Amazon basin. During World War I, he opposed President Woodrow Wilson for keeping the country out of the war, and offered his military services, although planning to run again for president in 1920, Roosevelt suffered deteriorating health and died in early 1919. Roosevelt has consistently ranked by scholars as one of the greatest American presidents. Historians admire Roosevelt for rooting out corruption in his administration, but are critical of his 1909 libel lawsuits against the World and his face was carved into Mount Rushmore, alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was born on October 27,1858, at East 20th Street in New York City and he was the second of four children born to socialite Martha Stewart Mittie Bulloch and glass businessman and philanthropist Theodore Roosevelt Sr
