Oysters are filters for the sea as each one filters about a gallon of water an hour. However, just a grain of sand that gets stuck in the oyster can become an irritant. The result is that the oyster will encase the irritant in a hardened substance that we know as a pearl—a treasure of great value. The same can be true of an irritant in a culture. What was an agitation can become a treasure of great value. 

     The Salem witch trials became such an irritant for the colonies. It was an enduring and...

     American history is remarkable because of the remarkable people who shaped it. Unlike most other national histories, almost all of those who helped build and shape the American nation were “commoners,” or from the common people, but they lived uncommon lives. One of the first of these was William Bradford, who may have been the person most responsible for setting the course America would take.

     William Bradford became a leader of the second English colony in North America at Plymouth Rock. He might be called the first to be a Founding Father of the American Republic....

     The American Republic grew into nationhood like no other nation in recorded history. The English colonies were given the freedom of religion and self-government in their charters. Other nations that attained any degree of these usually did so over centuries, or even millennia, of tedious and relentless struggle, but America was born with them. 

     As a result, the first generations of Americans grew up with freedoms greater than had been experienced anywhere else in the world. They breathed the air of liberty from the day they were born and were, therefore, quick to recognize and...

         What do the terms “left” and “right,” “liberal” and “conservative” really mean? Because definitions can change in a short period of time, we are looking at these for what they mean today. For example, the term “liberal” comes from the word “liberator.” This was the term that the American patriots were called during The Revolutionary War, but the people who hold to most of the beliefs of those patriots are today called “conservatives.”

         This being understood, we will begin with generalized distinctions between these terms. Today, liberals tend to look to...

         We live in a time when it seems that the left and right in America are moving further apart than ever. Those at the extremes, who tend to be the loudest, make it seem that way, but actually the core values and beliefs of Americans have not moved very much in either direction throughout our history. As we have covered, from The Revolutionary War to the present, the American people have been about 30% on the liberal left, 30% on the conservative right, and the remaining 40% between them. 

         There are...