The strongest people do what John Adams (1735-1826), the second president of the United States, advised us to do over 200 years ago: "Always stand on principle...even if you stand alone."  Put another way, Adams suggested that we stand up for what we believe in without ever giving in to pressure to change. Doing so isn't always easy, and few knew this better than Adams himself. For example, he was roundly criticized by his own party for trying to avert rather than push for war with France, which carried out a series of attacks on U.S. shipping between 1798 and 1800. Had he pursued the latter course, his Federalist party might have come out victorious in the Election of 1800 against Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans, who sided with France. But Adams refused to let politics get in the way of his bedrock principles. His are words that we should all live by. While none of us want to ruffle people's feathers by not doing what they want or not th...

Did you know that for over 150 years, U.S. presidents had no term limits? Essentially, this means that someone could serve for life, which many people equated with monarchical rule. Beginning with George Washington and lasting through Harry S. Truman, presidents could serve as many terms as they could win. It wasn’t until after Franklin D. Roosevelt won four consecutive presidential elections, leaving office only because of his death, that the government warmed up to the idea of having term limits. Let's travel back in time to the founding era. Back then, the U.S. had no presidential term limits because under the Articles of Confederation, there was no such thing as a president. (There was a president of the Continental Congress in the 1780s, but it was not a chief executive position.) The Articles’ framers in the Second Continental Congress deliberately left out a head-of-state because they fretted over creating another king in the mold of King George III of Great Britai...

Today's quote of the day comes from none other than Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804): "People sometimes attribute my success to my genius; all the genius I know anything about is hard work."  You may have heard of Hamilton , the smash Broadway musical his rags to riches story inspired. Or, you might know him as the guy on the $10 bill. Hamilton gave new meaning to the word "workhorse." As the first U.S. secretary of the treasury, he was essentially the architect of the American financial system. He wrote 51 of the 85 essays that comprise  The Federalist Papers . He pushed for the establishment of the first national bank. He wrote some 28 essays which were instrumental in securing the ratification of the Jay Treaty with Great Britain. He established the U.S. Coast Card and founded The New York Post, the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the U.S. And, to boot, he married into one of the wealthiest families in New York City, even though he neve...

I just finished reading a highly engrossing book called Diagnosing Jefferson - Evidence of a Condition that Guided His Beliefs, and Personal Associations by Norm Ledgin. The book makes the case that Thomas Jefferson -- Founding Father, 3rd president of the United States, and principal author of the Declaration of Independence -- suffered from a condition known as Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's Syndrome is a developmental disorder closely tied to autism and characterized by higher than average intellectual ability coupled with impaired social skills and restrictive, repetitive patterns of activities and interest. Ledgin contends that Jefferson exhibited a bevy of characteristics that unequivocally placed him on the autism-Asperger's continuum: As a law student at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, he frequently studied 15 hours a day. He spoke four languages and learned to read Latin, Greek, Italian, French, and Spanish.  He had a remarkable memo...

On this day in 1777,  Brigadier General George Clinton was elected as the first governor of the independent state of New York. Clinton would go on to become New York’s longest-serving governor, as well as the longest-serving governor in the United States. He held the post until 1795, and again from 1801 to 1804. In 1805, he was elected vice president of the United States, a position he maintained under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, until his death in 1812. There's no question that politics ran in Clinton's family. His father, Charles, immigrated to New York from Ireland and served in the New York colonial assembly. His brother, James, served as a major general during the Revolutionary War. In addition, James’ son, DeWitt Clinton, would follow in his uncle’s footsteps and serve as the governor of New York from 1817 to 1823. Clinton had a close friendship with George Washington, and his hatred of New York Tories wasn't lost on anyone. In fact, as govern...

How many letters do you handwrite and mail in a year? If you're like most people, the answer is probably zero. Email, texting, and social media have essentially rendered the practice of writing letters by hand obsolete. Despite their being old school, a person might still write one when they want to add a personal touch that doesn't carry over digitally  -- say, a child writing to his pen pal, a foreign exchange student reaching out to family from the other side of the world, or a hopeless romantic who wishes to spill his guts via pen and paper. Can you guess how many letters Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, wrote in his lifetime? Mind you, there was no Yahoo, Facebook, or Twitter in the 1700s and 1800s. Even the telephone wasn't invented until 1876, and Jefferson died in 1826. That means people in Jefferson's time had to make do with communicating through correspondence. And, evidently, Jefferson was nothing short of a pro. He...

Regrettably, even I have yet to visit Monticello, the estate of third U.S. president Thomas Jefferson, who spent more than forty years designing, dismantling, and reimagining this "essay in architecture," as he called it.  The property is regarded a national treasure -- both for its historical significance and beauty. It's perched atop a lofty hill in Albemarle County, Virginia, not far from Jefferson's birthplace of Shadwell.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt once wrote, "Monticello speaks to me as an expression of the personality of its builder."  Indeed, if you were to pick the president with the widest range of hobbies and abilities, Jefferson would have to be in the Top 3. He was a writer, inventor, philosopher, architect, scientist, scholar, gardener, statesman, founder of the University of Virginia, viticulturalist, and the list goes on. Unlike any of the other 43 men to take office, Jefferson was a polymath -- a true intellectual and Renaissanc...

Yesterday, I came across the word "slake" in a book I'm currently reading on Thomas Jefferson. I'd never heard or used the word before, prompting me to look up its meaning. It turns out that slake means to satisfy a craving, to quench. For example, when you want to slake your thirst, you may drink from a fountain or grab a can of soda. Other synonyms include satisfy, sate, assuage, and allay. Had you ever heard of the word before reading this post?

On this day in 1800, President John Adams became the first acting president to take up residence in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the White House (or President’s Mansion or President’s House as it known at the time), was still unfinished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at Tunnicliffe’s City Hotel near the also half-completed Capitol building. The final site for the nation’s capital had been selected by George Washington while he was still president in 1790. Construction on the President’s House commenced in 1792, but was not completed until late 1800. When Adams first arrived in Washington on June 3, he wrote to his wife Abigail that he was pleased with the new site for the federal government and had explored the soon-to-be President’s House with contentment. However, he showed weariness at being unsettled. On November 1, Adams finally moved into his official residence, with the paint and plaster still drying and the building surrounded by weeds. Abigail Adams arrived in ...

Ever had to deal with the drudgery of calling a company's customer service department for assistance? Yep, we've all been there. Just this morning, I received a message from Discover -- at work, no less -- saying they were calling in reference to a "request" I'd recently made. ' A victim of identity theft several times over the last few years, I immediately assumed someone had tried to open an account under my name. Then I remembered I was protected under a credit monitoring service through my wife's employer -- plus, they hadn't notified me of any suspicious activity. I called the number and was told that, in order for them to track down the file in question, I would either have to provide a reference number (which wasn't given to me) or my full social security number. The latter was, of course, out of the question, so I opted to do one thing at that point: Call again later in the day and hope the person who attended me then was more com...

On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be necessary for the use of congress." The books, purchased for what we know today as the Library of Congress, were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three maps was stored in the U.S. Capitol, which served as the Library's first home. On January 26, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson approved the first legislation that specified the role and functions of the library. In an interesting coincidence, Jefferson later sold the bulk of his book collection to Congress for $23,950 after the British set the Capitol ablaze in 1814. The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It aims to make its resources available and useful to the Congress and the public, as well as to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge for future generati...

Donald Trump takes the oath of office today and officially becomes the 45th president of the United States. While I didn't vote for him, I still plan to tune in. The peaceful transfer of power has been a hallmark of American democracy since Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams for the presidency in 1800. Though I disagree with Trump on a bevy of issues, loathe his antics (Twitter, anyone?), and have found many of his remarks toward women and other groups to be reprehensible, I still wish him well. The bottom line is that if he succeeds, America succeeds, and if America succeeds, the entire world succeeds. America spoke loud and clear in last year's election. Tired of the broken system in Washington, it wanted to see an outsider take the country in a whole new direction. Whether Trump can live up to all the promises he made on the campaign trail remains to be seen. He enters office with the worst approval rating of any president in modern history, so surely he has ...

On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris at the Maryland State House in Annapolis. The document, negotiated in part by future President John Adams, included terms for ending the Revolutionary War and established the United States as a sovereign nation. The treaty set territorial boundaries in North America formerly held by the British, outlined America’s fishing rights off the coast of Canada, and put an end to reprisals against British loyalists. Two other future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, were among the delegates who ratified the document on January 14, 1874. Thomas Jefferson had planned to travel to Paris to join Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay to begin talks with the British in 1782. However, after a delay in his travel plans, Jefferson got word that a cessation of hostilities had been announced by King George III the prior December. Jefferson arrived in Paris in late February after the treaty had already been negot...

The word of the day is none other than polymath , which sounds like something right out of an algebra book.  I first came across this world earlier this year while watching a YouTube video that described Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, as a polymath.  So what does polymath mean, you ask? The fact that it contains "poly" means you can at least infer that it has to do with  many  of something.  Per Wikipedia, it's a person whose expertise spans a wide range of subject areas. Dictionary.com defines polymath as a person of encyclopedic learning. The term is often linked to great thinkers of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment who excelled at various fields in science and the arts. Aside from Jefferson, other famous polymaths include: Galileo Leonardo da Vinci Aristotle Copernicus Benjamin Franklin Isaac Newton I probably won't be a polymath in this lifetime, but it's because I strive to be highly knowled...

On November 13, 1789, George Washington returns to Washington at the conclusion of his first presidential tour. He'd been inaugurated as the first president of the United States in April, For four weeks, Washington traveled by stagecoach through New England, visiting all the northern states that had ratified the U.S. Constitution. Washington, the great Revolutionary War general and first leader of the new republic, was greeted by exuberant crowds. Major William Jackson, who was Washington’s aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War, accompanied the president, along with a private secretary and nine servants, including several slaves. The group traveled as far north as Kittery, Maine, which, at the time, was still a part of Massachusetts. Two years later, President Washington set off on his first presidential visit to the southern states, making a nearly-2,000-mile round-trip journey from his estate at Mount Vernon, Virginia. One thing I've asked myself -- especially aft...

The other day, a friend of mine stumbled upon the expression "living vicariously" while reading a book and asked me what it meant. It wasn't the first time someone I had fielded this very question. Vicariously simply means that you're experiencing something indirectly, like when your friend's vacation feels like your own. Vicariously is the adverb form of the word vicarious, which also signifies experiencing something through another person. An avid reader, I'll be the first person to admit that I often live vicariously through the people I read about in books. I'm an avid American history buff and am always reading books that center on the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. There are two I enjoy reading more about than the rest, though: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Not only did they found the nascent republic's first two political parties -- the Federalist party and Democ...

Being a workaholic often gets a bad rap, but I'm here to tell you that it isn't always a negative thing. Indeed, being a workaholic can actually be an asset in your life if three conditions are met: (1) you're passionate about what you're doing (2) it doesn't put a serious strain on your health, and (3) it doesn't adversely affect your relationships. As the saying goes, it shouldn't even feel like work if it's something you love to do. For example, as a writer, I'm happy to read until my eyes glaze over and write until my hand falls off. When I read about historic figures like Thomas Jefferson, who wrote close to twenty thousand letters in his lifetime, I'm left awestruck and, quite frankly, envious that I don't have the time to match his output! I am a rare breed in that my trade (writing) is also my hobby. But if being a workaholic is causing health-related issues or problems in your relationship, it's a telltale sign you're...

When most people think of the 4th of July , everything from fireworks and the colors red, white, and blue to barbecues and the beach immediately pop to mind. Even if you're not a history buff, you probably know that it is today we commemorate the signing in of the Declaration of Independence, which took place July 4, 1776 . But there are several little-known facts about the famous holiday that you probably never learned in school. Here is a small sampling of them: 1. Only two individuals actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4 : John Hancock, who is best known for his large and elaborate signature on the document, and Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress. Most of the others didn't sign it until August 2. 2. Not everyone agreed with celebrating the country's independence on July 4 , the day Congress approved the Declaration. John Adams, who would go on to become the second President of the United States, wished to celebrate ...

I just finished reading a book titled " Washington's Circle: The Creation of the President ." It's one of the best books I've read in a long time, and one I highly recommend if you're interested in history and politics. It harks back to an era when a fledgling nation was led by some of the brightest minds in its history. Rounding out Washington's cabinet was Secretary of State and future President Thomas Jefferson, who formed the Democratic-Republican party; Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who established the first Bank of the United States and helped found the Federalist Party; Secretary of War Henry Knox; and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. Many historians deem this the best presidential cabinet ever to be assembled. Despite their differing political views, these men led the nation through turbulent waters in the late 1700s. From strained relations with the British and French that brought the nascent country to the brink of war to par...

In life, you must always remember to focus on the right people . Whom do I refer to when I say "the right people"? Those who inspire you , of course. Whether it's a parent who raised you all by herself, a teacher who taught you a valuable lesson or two, or an important figure in history whose contributions have resonated deeply with you, these are the kinds of individuals who deserve a permanent place in our thoughts. On the other hand, we must resist the urge to ruminate on people who engender in us a sense of negativity that's hard to shake off -- the ones who bring us down the very second we think of them. That may include an obnoxious boss, a jaded ex who can't take no for an answer, or a friend who only reaches out to you when she needs you. Your mind is cluttered enough as it is. Why waste whatever mental real estate you have available on people who simply aren't worthy of your thoughts? They sure as hell aren't thinking of you, so why shou...