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...

I just finished reading "The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness." I remember spotting the book at a local Barnes & Noble bookstore a few months ago and wondering why Monroe never seems to get as much attention as other Founding Fathers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Interested in learning more about the last of the quartet of presidents who made up the so-called Virginia dynasty (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe), I purchased the book. I learned a great deal about Monroe. For example, did you know he's the only person ever to have held the positions of Secretary of State and Secretary of War at the same time? Or that Monrovia, the first permanent Black American settlement in Africa, is named after said president? Or that Monroe nearly dueled with Alexander Hamilton had it not been for Aaron Burr, who himself would go on to kill Hamilton in a duel. Monroe fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War and ...