early Republic

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  12/7/2020
  

  How John Adams Managed a Peaceful Transition of Presidential Power

  by Sara Georgini

  John Adams handed over power to Thomas Jefferson in 1801, but his actions demonstrated that power truly remained in the hands of the people.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/25/2020
  

  Grave Is Found at Site of Historic Black Church in Colonial Williamsburg

  The excavation may have discovered the remains of a Baptist congregation dating to the late 18th century, and may prompt a rethinking of the place of African American history in the open museum of Colonial Williamsburg.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/2/2020
  

  Minority Rule Cannot Last in America. It Never Has

  by Kenneth Owen

  When parties commit themselves to minority rule, the backlash can be severe, as has been shown repeatedly when ruling parties stood in the way of popular will. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  11/11/2020
  

  A Diverse Cabinet will Make Joe Biden a Better President and Unify the Country

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  "Over the past 230 years, presidents have followed Washington’s lead, making increased diversity and representation of religions, backgrounds, genders and races a central part of the cabinet story."

• 
• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  9/29/2020
  

  On the Peaceful Transfer of Power: Lessons from 1800

  by Sara Georgini

  Adams lost the presidency amid violent factionalism, a seething press, rampant electioneering, and the eruption of party politics, yet became a champion for the peaceful transfer of power. 

• 
• 6/21/2020
  

  Peace is Temporary Without Trustworthy Leaders: Lessons from the Philadelphia Mutiny

  by David Head

  In an environment of intense mutual suspicion—soldiers accused civilians of stingy ingratitude while civilians saw the army as a threat to their liberty—Washington’s trustworthiness bound the two sides together.

• SOURCE: NYT
  8-7-13
  

  James Traub: The Tea Party’s Path to Irrelevance

  James Traub, a columnist at foreignpolicy.com, is writing a biography of John Quincy Adams.WASHINGTON — THE Tea Party has a new crusade: preventing illegal immigrants from gaining citizenship, which they say is giving amnesty to lawbreakers. Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation, recently told Politico that his members were “more upset about the amnesty bill than they were about Obamacare.”...Tea Partyers often style themselves as disciples of Thomas Jefferson, the high apostle of limited government. But by taking the ramparts against immigration, the movement is following a trajectory that looks less like the glorious arc of Jefferson’s Republican Party than the suicidal path of Jefferson’s great rivals, the long-forgotten Federalists, who also refused to accept the inexorable changes of American demography.The Federalists began as the faction that supported the new Constitution, with its “federal” framework, rather than the existing model of a loose “confederation” of states. They were the national party, claiming to represent the interests of the entire country.