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...

On this day in 1789, America’s first presidential election was held. The first Election Day looked almost nothing like today's elections. In fact, political parties hadn't yet come into existence, and it was a time when campaigning was actually discouraged. Only white men who owned property were permitted to vote. That means a mere 1.3 percent of the total population voted in this election -- far lower than the approximately 40 percent of the total population who vote in modern presidential elections. With 69 electoral votes, George Washington became the first and only person to unanimously win the presidency. John Adams, who served as the first U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, became the first vice president with 34 electoral votes. Voters from ten states -- Virgnia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey -- were able to cast electoral votes in this election. New York was unable to field a s...

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...

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 ...

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...

Today's quote comes from Abigail Adams (1744-1818), the second First Lady of the United States and wife of the second U.S. President, John Adams: "Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence." I agree wholeheartedly with Abigail. What she is saying is that people must take an active interest in learning. Books do not merely fall from the sky and into your lap -- you need to seek them out, whether at home or in the library. The same applies in the digital world, where you can find helpful videos on YouTube, informative articles on Wikipedia, and so forth. Unfortunately, far too many people believe learning stops the day you graduate from college. This couldn't be further from the truth. Just because you don't have to take exams or write papers anymore doesn't mean you can't learn how to play an instrument, read and write in a different language, or start your own business. Nothing enriches the mind like knowl...

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...

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...

With Halloween just a couple of weeks away, I felt now would be a great time to begin spotlighting some of the many hotels across the United States that are purportedly haunted, much like I did last year. We begin with the Hay-Adams Hotel, a luxury hotel situated in Washington D.C. It occupies the site where the 1885 homes of John Hay and Henry Adams once stood at 16th and H Streets NW. The site soon became a bustling scene of intellectual activity, hosting stimulating discussions about art, science, literature, and politics. Famous guests included Mark Twain, Henry James, and Teddy Roosevelt. Hay had quite the resume. He served as a personal secretary to President Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. Adams was a historian and Harvard professor, not to mention a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Both men were also accomplished writers. In 1927, Harry War...

Yesterday, I finished reading "Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation" by John Ferling. If nothing else, the book demonstrates how the intense partisan battles we see today can be traced all the way back to the late 1700s, when the first political parties were formed. The Federalist Party, which pushed for a strong central government, assumption of war debts, and a national bank, was headed by the first secretary of the treasury, Alexander Hamilton. Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson, who served as George Washington's first secretary of state (and went on to become the third U.S. president), started the Democratic-Republican Party, which favored states' rights and limited government. Jefferson and Hamilton clashed inexorably, from the moment they joined Washington's cabinet through the Elections of 1796 and 1800, the latter of which Jefferson won by a whisker. Most historians agree that Jefferson and Hamilton, for all their differences, rema...

On this day in 1767, John Quincy Adams, son of the second U.S. president, John Adams, is born in Braintree, Massachusetts. John Quincy Adams not only shared the elder Adams' passion for politics, but seemed to have inherited his father's cantankerous personality as well. At 14, he was already joining his dad on diplomatic missions; he entered the legal arena upon completing his schooling. As a young man, he served as minister to several countries, including the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Prussia, and England. In 1803, he commenced his first term as a Republican in the Senate and helped negotiate the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812. From 1817 to 1824, he served as secretary of state to President James Monroe. While it is Monroe who gets most of the credit for his eponymous Doctrine, historians assert that Adams was the true mastermind behind it. In the heavily contested presidential election of 1824, a tie between Quincy Adams and Democrat Andrew Jackson p...

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 ...

When most people think of New York, historic landmarks and attractions like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Chrysler Building come to mind. But few know of the place that happens to be the Big Apple's oldest cultural institution: the New York Society Library. It was founded in 1754 by the New York Society as a subscription library. During the time New York served as the capital of the United States, it was the de facto Library of Congress. It also functioned as the city's library until the New York Public Library was established in 1895. The New York Society Library was patronized by such iconic political figures as George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr, the latter two eventually squaring off in a duel that resulted in Hamilton's untimely death. Interestingly, Washington is believed to have failed to return two books due in 1789. Since 1937, the library has been housed in the former John S. Roger's Mansion on Manha...

On this day in 1800, President John Adams (1735-1826) ordered the federal government to pack up, leave Philadelphia, and set up shop in the nation’s new capital -- Washington, D.C. After Congress adjourned its last meeting in Philadelphia on May 15, Adams told his cabinet to make sure Congress and all federal offices were up and running in their new headquarters by June 15, 1800. Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital from 1790 until June 10, 1800. Official archives and documents were transferred from Philadelphia to the new capital via ship over inland waterways. President and Mrs. Adams did not move in to the president’s mansion, which sat unfinished, until November of that year. Settling in to the White House was no walk in the park for the new first lady. In December, Abigail Adams wrote to a friend that she had to line-dry their clothes in what eventually was dubbed the East Room. John Adams was the first president to live in the White House. It was President Theodore...

The Library of Congress celebrates its 216th birthday today. On this day in 1800, President John Adams (1735-1826) approved legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress,” thereby establishing the Library of Congress. The first books, ordered from London, arrived in 1801 and were housed in the U.S. Capitol, the library’s first home. The first library catalog, dated April 1802, listed 964 volumes and nine maps. Twelve years later, the British army invaded the city of Washington and burned the Capitol during the War of 1812, including the then 3,000-volume Library of Congress. Former president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), who championed the expansion of the library during his two terms in office, responded by offering to sell his personal library, the largest of its kind in the country, to Congress. The purchase of Jefferson’s volumes -- numbering well over 6,000 -- was approved the following next year.. In 1851, a second major...

On March 27, 1775, Future President Thomas Jefferson was elected to the second Continental Congress. Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, quickly made a name for himself in the Continental Congress with the publication of his paper, A Summary View of the Rights of British America . Several more papers would follow in the coming year, including Drafts and Notes on the Virginia Constitution . In June 1776, Congress assembled a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Following a great deal of discussion, the committee selected Jefferson to compose the document. At just 33 years of age, it only took Jefferson a couple of days to complete a draft of what is regarded as the most important document in the history of democracy. After a few small changes, the committee submitted the draft, titled A Declaration by the Representatives in General Congress Assembled , to Congress on June 28, 1776. The document was formally adopted by Congress on July 4, 1776, under the new title The Dec...

To all you readers here in the United States -- here's to a Happy Independence Day! Today we come together and commemorate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies declared themselves an independent nation, severing ties with an overbearing British Empire. Even if you're not a history buff like me, there are certain things we learned in history class that remain embedded in our minds, including: The heroism of George Washington, who led the Continental Army to victory against long odds. After all, he was up against the mightiest military force in the world. The Declaration of Independence, which was written by Thomas Jefferson and included a series of grievances against King George III. And who could forget John Hancock's oversized signature? Founding Fathers like Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Sam Adams, and Hancock, all of whom contributed to the Revolutionary cause in a big way It's easy t...