USA

The Monroe Doctrine

George Washington had warned the American people against “the insidious wiles of foreign influence.” President Monroe, writes Arnold Whitridge, further developed “the thesis of non-entanglement.”

The Mormons in America: The Story of a Frontier

When Mark Twain said of the Mormons, 'Their religion is singular but their wives are plural' he expressed the sum of what is generally known about them. Yet the Mormon story deserves to be better known. It illuminates one side of the development of a pioneer society, and forms a commentary upon many of the main themes of American history.

The Spanish-American War

During a short-lived phase of expansionism the United States wrested Cuba and the Philippines from their Spanish rulers. 

The War of 1812 in Canada

While Britain was engrossed in the struggle with Napoleon, writes J. Mackay Hitsman, a defensive war with the United States was fought along the frontiers of Upper and Lower Canada.

Southern Women and Slavery, Part II

From all the evidence, writes Sudie Duncan Sides, it is abundantly clear that it was harder to be a slave than a plantation mistress; but the memoirs of the time do not admit this.

Commodore Jones’s War

In the belief that either Britain or France was about to wrest California from Mexico, writes G.G. Hatheway, an American Commodore in 1842 attempted the venture himself, with some ludicrous results.

A More Perfect Union

On May 14th, 1787, a Convention met in Philadelphia to draw up the articles of “ a more perfect union”. Alexander Winston describes how the problem was “government or anarchy”.