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For what purposes did Thomas Paine write "Common Sense"?

When Thomas Paine wrote "Common Sense," the public in the United States argued about whether the United States should become independent from Great Britain with one faction believing they should be independent, a second believing they should stay dependent on Great Britain and a third being undecided. In the book, Thomas Paine wrote in common language to show the third that were neutral why independence was a good idea.\nHe had two main arguments. The first was that the United States should be independent from England. He showed the advisability of separation and the problems that were inheren..

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Where can you find a copy of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

The ABC News website displays the full text of the Bliss version. It also provides a link to the Abraham Lincoln Online website. Each version is slightly different, and the originals are held at various libraries and museums. The Bliss version is on display in the Lincoln Room of the White House.

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What was Rosa Parks' family like?

Parks' parents separated when she was young, and she grew up with her maternal grandparents, mother and brother on a farm in Pine Level, Alabama. Her maternal grandparents were Rose and Sylvester Edwards, two former slaves who advocated strongly for racial equality. Her grandfather was known for once standing in front of the family's house with a shotgun while Ku Klux Klan members marched down the street.\nWhen Rosa's brother married, Daisy McCauley became her sister-in-law. Sylvester and Daisy had 14 children: Parks' nieces and nephews. One of these children, Sheila Gaye K..

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Who won the Battle of Marathon?

Historians estimate that the Athenian army assembled on the Marathon plain included 10,000 soldiers from Athens and the small city of Plataea, while the Persian army numbered around 25,000 soldiers. The Athenian commander Miltiades strengthened his wings while weakening his center, a formation that allowed his army to attack the lesser trained Persian flanks with greater force. This threw the Persian army into confusion, allowing the Athenian forces to win the day. After marching back to Athens, the Athenian army prevented the Persians from landing there, and the Persians went back to Asia.

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Who invented the 24-hour day?

Hipparchus's system is also known as "equinoctial" time because it was based on 12 hours of daytime and 12 hours of nighttime on the equinoxes. Many cultures continued to use hours of varying length, but hours became more standardized in the medieval period due to the use of mechanical clocks. In 1884, the universal day of 24 hours was proposed and accepted at the International Meridian Conference, which also began to standardize time zones.

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What was the legacy of Louis XIV?

Although he took the throne as a toddler, Louis XIV didn't rule until his mid-20s when his chief adviser Cardinal Jules Mazarin passed away. He immediately took to reforming the tax laws, which reduced the country's debt. He reduced the influence of the French nobility and refused to take on a new chief minister. His most radical reform was to negate the Edict of Nantes with his Edict of Fontainebleau, which eventually led to a mass exodus of Protestant citizens.\nLouix XIV had a passion for art and culture and surrounded himself with the top artists and playwrights of the day, inclu..

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What did American migrant workers do in 1930?

Approximately 40 percent of the migrant workers who migrated to California ended up picking cotton and grapes in the state's central San Joaquin Valley, where they displaced hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Mexico. Migrant workers in the San Joaquin Valley earned 75 cents to $1.25 per day, but often had to return much of their earnings to the corporate-owned farms on which they worked in order to rent a shack to sleep in and to buy food from the company store.\nMany of the migrant workers had owned their own small farms in the Plains states and hoped to save enough money to s..

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Where is Ernest Shackleton buried?

After Shackleton's death, a member of his team, Leonard Hussey, accompanied his body to Montevideo. He received a letter from Shackleton's wife, Lady Emily Shackleton, who requested that her husband's body be buried on South Georgia.\nShackleton's funeral took place at the Whalers Church at Grytvikin on March 5, 1922. The granite headstone at his gravesite was made in Edinburgh and unveiled by the governor of the Falkland Islands in 1928. The headstone is inscribed with a quotation from Robert Browning, one of Shackleton's favorite poets.

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Why was the Pendleton Act passed?

Prior to the Pendleton Act, politicians and government officials could appoint jobs to friends and family. In 1881, a mentally unstable man assassinated James A. Garfield in protest against not obtaining a government job. The public's reaction caused President Chester Arthur to introduce the Pendleton Act in 1883. The act stated that jobs should be acquired through sitting exams and that candidates should prove their competencies before being appointed to a position. Although previous presidents, like George Washington, had appointed people based on merit, the subsequent ones did not foll..

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What is the history of the Civil Works Administration?

Roosevelt created the Civil Works Administration to provide jobs during the Great Depression. He envisioned providing work to all people who received public assistance but were capable of working. Employment under the Civil Works Administration included public works projects such as bridge construction and road improvements. Among its achievements were the laying of 12 million feet of sewer pipe and building or improving 255,000 miles of road. Four million people worked on these projects at a cost of $200 million a month.\nThere was some criticism of these projects. There were not enough jobs ..

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