CATEGORY: HISTORY
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The Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The exposure of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study in 1972 shocked the nation. More than fifty years later, its impact upon public health continues.
When the Government Shuts Down: How Law, Politics, and Policy Collide
See how a 19th-century spending law evolved into today’s government shutdowns, halting aid, closing agencies, and impacting millions of Americans.
Legal History of Washington, D.C.
The City of Washington, D.C. occupies a unique legal position, as both the seat of government to the United States, and the home of more than 700,000 residents, who are subject to a distinctive set of laws and restrictions.
The Jungle and Food Safety
When Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, he was hoping for a revolution. We got the Food and Drug Administration instead.
The Perry Expedition to Japan
In 1852, a fleet of American warships known as the Perry Expedition arrived in Tokyo Bay, demanding the admittance of American trade to Japan. The resulting treaties, signed under threat of force, would forever transform the global power structure.
The Erie Canal
On November 4, 1825, a group of dignitaries gathered aboard a boat in New York Harbor to watch Governor De Witt Clinton dump a barrel of lake water into the sea. Thus was born the Erie Canal.
Reconstruction: The Second Founding
In the wake of the Civil War, Reconstruction sought to reshape America. Its legacy remains contested.
The Insular Cases
The five United States territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands are home to 3.62 million people. The people of these islands lack voting representatives in Congress, and are provided with only a fraction of the Constitutional protections afforded to U.S. citizens in the States.
The Explosion That Destroyed Texas City
As Texas City longshoremen labored on the morning of April 16, 1947, they had no idea their cargo—all 2,300 tons of it—was so dangerous. The packaging only said “fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate.”