The Historian

Most people know so little about Frederick Douglass, the slave-turned-abolitionist, who helped to found our current democratic-republic. Douglass was a man of virtue, intellect, compassion, and made of the the sort of stuff men today can only hope to attain. I am talking steel. But who was Douglass?  Was he simply a former slave who escaped his fate and directed his anger toward revenge for his former hideous masters?  Was he someone who detached his loyalty from the country, giving his sole allegiance to socialist precepts?  Or was he simply a man sought to live a life of quiet respite, away from the multitude crowds and seeking isolated peace after his longsuffering as a slave? The answer to all of the above is a firm negative.  Douglass was a man ahead of his time. He challenged the current falsities of his day, that Black men were naturally inferior. He held the highest standards of virtue while fighting tooth and nail for freedom, equal rights for all people, an...

" I can not speak particularly of any of the cases excepting that of Virginia, where it is impossible to deny that Religion prevails with more zeal, and a more exemplary priesthood, than it ever did when established and patronized by Public authority. We are teaching the World the great truth, that Governments do better without Kings & Nobles than with them. The merit will be doubled by the other lesson, that Religion flourishes in greater purity, without than with the aid of Government." -James Madison to Edward Livingston, 1822 The misnomer that the Establishment Clause of the American Constitution allows the American Congress and U.S. Supreme Court the right to infringe on state religious establishment or non-establishment is contrary to the Constitution and the original framers to that document. The original framers, both Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike, adhered to a common understanding that religion was not the enemy of the republic, but rather, the sheer wil...

  “The man who is right is a majority. He who has God and conscience on his side, has a majority against the universe.” ―  Frederick Douglass The revolutionary war fought from 1775-1783 was not simply a war to end British tyranny and unjust taxation. It was a war for freedom of conscience—freedom to make choices and face the outcomes of those choices both good and bad. In fact, a republic cannot stand without freedom of conscience. It can withstand taxation, it can even endure some level of tyranny, but without the freedom to choose and believe? No. It ceases to exist entirely. The basic fundamental function of each individual in a republic is the function of making decisions. The freedom to choose is a deeply American concept rooted in the spirit of 1776. In fact, without the ability to choose, without the value of free will, each individual loses his/her ability to activate conscience—to act in accordance with what is good, pure, virtuous, and right. To act counter to th...

“The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result? When will our moralists give us an answer to this question?”  -John Hersey, Hiroshima A side from the recent 2003 'War on Terror', America has had a history of debating whether or not to go to war. Is the war being waged a 'just war'? How must it be fought and what goals and plans do we as a nation have in entering and eventually ending a war? D ebating publicly over whether or not to go to war is a fragile part of our American legacy as a democracy. It is the necessity for the public to engage in healthy discussion over whether or not to send their sons, daughters, uncles, mothers, and fathers off to war. Once debate is silenced and dissenting voices are muffled, either one of two things is happening--we as Americans are apathetic t...

“If reformers were to wait for the approval of public opinion, the world would be the same as it was at the time of Adam and Eve” – Qasim Amin, Kalimat The recent Arab Awakening gave hope to the world that the Middle East and North African countries were in a state of internal reform—sudden change, a breath of fresh air from the dictatorial regimes now outdated. The change was coming from inside, where for the first time, young Arabs saw light, the beacon of hope that would forever change their futures. This light, stemmed from Western thought, the 17th/18th century Enlightenment that for some reason could not seem to take hold historically in the region, perhaps due to the stubborn and static nature of the Arabs—particularly Muslim Arabs—who associated Western thought with the unveiling of their women and greedy materialism. After all, desiring women's freedom is a recent altruistic concept among Muslims, right? Wrong. No civilization or country at some point or other is free of ...

"Obsessed by a fairy tale, we spend our lives searching for a magic door and a lost kingdom of peace"-Eugene O'Neill, American playwright Women have held sacred sexuality since time immemorial. In Paleolithic times, the sacred feminine was captivated in her representation. She had no voice, no soul, just a body from which all life sprung. This body was round, curved, voluptuous, and the center of worship by both men and women. But it was within this context of sexual power that woman came to be defined, her ability to give birth and nurture creation made her the ultimate icon of worship. But she was also a force to be feared. By the Neolithic era, man learned that the only way to survive and sustain his progeny, was by controlling the natural resources around him. Hydraulic engineering became necessary for civilizations to develop and produce--irrigation for floods, boats for transport, dams for storing water--were just some of the many ways men learned to control resourc...