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Modern History

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@history
An explanation can become intellectually dominant simply because no rival explanation is available, even without careful testing.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
@history
Racial preferences can place capable Black students at colleges whose academic standards exceed their preparation, making success feel like failure.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Treating Black people as responsible actors has been missing from policy and academic debates about closing racial gaps.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Affirmative action can harm both favored and disfavored groups, disadvantaging applicants and placing beneficiaries where they are less likely to succeed.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Blocking high-performing charter schools is a moral outrage when quality education may be poor children’s essential route to a better life.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Black married couples faced a 7.5% poverty rate, compared with 22% among Blacks overall and 11% among whites overall.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Teachers’ unions can obstruct charter expansion with political money, votes, and administrative barriers. Successful charters expose public schools to competition.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Harlem children do not need the past restored to receive a good education. Effective schools already prove it.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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A large population of unemployed teenage males with little structure can harm communities, even when policy aims to show compassion.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Marriage, educational effort, and books or other learning resources at home are lifestyle choices linked to differences in outcomes.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Among Americans aged 18 to 29, 45% viewed capitalism favorably, while 51% viewed socialism favorably in the cited Gallup poll.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Harvard’s class of 2019 reportedly averaged SAT scores of 2,149 for Black students, 2,218 for white students, and 2,300 for Asian students.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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New York’s highest-scoring districts had average family incomes four to more than nine times those of Success Academy families, yet scored lower.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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About two-thirds of children in Iceland are raised in single-parent homes, versus roughly one in 66 children in South Korea.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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Logic cannot validate a theory by itself. Evidence matters, especially when it threatens a cherished social vision.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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When the top tax rate fell from 73% to 24%, high earners’ share of total taxes rose from 30% to 65%.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
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A cause may demand your money, comfort, or status. It must never demand your mind or conscience.
Hoover InstitutionThomas Sowell on the Myths of Economic Inequality
@history
The 1766 Declaratory Act repealed the Stamp Act while claiming Parliament could bind the colonies in all cases.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
The Second Continental Congress created a Continental Army under George Washington while presenting colonists as faithful subjects seeking harmony with the king.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
The decisive justification for independence was governing nations by law rather than by one person and selected advisers.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
Thomas Paine called independence a chance to begin political life anew through deliberate constitutional design.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
As Common Sense spread, states were writing declarations by April 1776, and Virginia urged Congress to declare the colonies free.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
Parliament’s punishment of Boston gave the colonies a shared example of tyranny and turned local protest into organized resistance.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
Thomas Paine shifted blame from the king’s ministers to monarchy itself, making independence a direct remedy.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
The Stamp Act became a constitutional showdown over whether the king could be checked by people lacking direct representation in Parliament.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
The Olive Branch Petition failed because the king declared the colonies in rebellion before receiving the appeal.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
Britain made taxed tea cheaper through a monopoly, hoping purchases would quietly establish Parliament’s right to tax the colonies.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress dissolved the colonies’ political connection to Great Britain, two days before approving the Declaration’s final form.
Heather Cox RichardsonJuly 2, 2026
@history
Unlike 1796, the 1800 candidates ran on joint tickets with designated vice-presidential partners, including Jefferson’s Aaron Burr.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Sally Hemings was seven-eighths white, yet Virginia law still classified her as enslaved because her mother was enslaved.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
When Jefferson was fourteen, his father’s death left him enslaved people and land, both retained throughout his life.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Mount Rushmore presents Jefferson as a symbol of American expansion, not merely a Declaration author or Enlightenment hero.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Madison Hemings said Jefferson promised Sally Hemings extraordinary privileges and freedom for their children at 21.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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At 16, Sally Hemings refused to return to Virginia, despite freedom and family awaiting her in France.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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After Jefferson’s death, enslaved people were sold on the block, scattering families across the American South.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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James Callender became a hostile Federalist writer after Jefferson failed to give him a desired job, then was found drowned in three feet of water.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Alexander Hamilton preferred Jefferson to Burr because Jefferson, despite his flaws, was less dangerous and had some claim to character.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Before her death, Martha Jefferson secured Jefferson’s witnessed promise never to remarry and bring a stepmother over their children.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Jefferson imagined liberty moving westward from Germany through Britain to America, carried by Anglo-Saxon settlers.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Monticello’s celebrated beauty was also the architecture of a plantation built and maintained through slavery.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Gordon-Reed found Jefferson at Monticello nine months before every birth of Sally Hemings’s children.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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Thomas Jefferson resigned as secretary of state in 1793 after concluding his disagreements with Hamilton could not be reconciled.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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Archaeologists found Sally Hemings’s original room directly beside Jefferson’s bedroom at Monticello.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Martha Jefferson did not free the Hemingses, but kept the family together and assigned them domestic work instead of field labor.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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A 1999 DNA study placed the father of Sally Hemings’s children in the Jefferson male line, strongly supporting but not proving Thomas Jefferson’s paternity.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Jefferson’s original Declaration draft called slavery “a cruel war against human nature itself” and a violation of life and liberty.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
Sally Hemings was both Jefferson’s enslaved property and his wife’s half-sister, making her the aunt of Jefferson’s children.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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After 35 tied ballots, Jefferson finally won the 1800 election on the 36th ballot, February 16, 1801.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
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A forgotten electoral vote created a 73–73 tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, sending the election to Congress.
The Rest Is HistoryThe Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4
@history
The Declaration of Independence exaggerated many accusations against George III, yet most rested on genuine colonial grievances.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Even after Lexington and Concord in April 1775, many colonists wanted restoration, until Thomas Paine’s Common Sense pushed separation.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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George III feared losing North America would endanger the wider British Empire, including Ireland, Gibraltar, India, and other holdings.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Approximately 20,000 African Americans fought in the Revolution, including 15,000 for Britain and 5,000 for the Americans.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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British forces suffered so heavily from New Jersey forage raids that supply missions killed more British and Hessian troops than battles.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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George III understood constitutional checks and balances, yet disastrously believed Britain could not lose the North American colonies.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. Women gained voting rights 144 years after the Declaration.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Britain’s mayor of London, his council, senior naval leaders, and an important army figure favored letting the colonies go.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Washington voluntarily resigned his commission after Britain left New York and surrendered the presidency at the height of his power.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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An average colonist paid about one shilling annually in local taxes. An average person in England paid roughly 26.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Natural-rights language turned slavery from a recognized evil into a central political contradiction of universal equality.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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In one season in New Jersey, more British and Hessian troops died seeking forage than fell in any battle.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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France entered the American Revolution after the Continental victory at Saratoga in fall 1777 made intervention viable.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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The United States won the most from the Revolution. Native Americans suffered most, while slavery, women’s exclusion, and France’s lost influence endured.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Colonists claimed Native identity after 150 years of dispossessing Indigenous peoples. The United States continued that dispossession across the continent.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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The Revolution promised freedom while dispossessing Native Americans. Many tribes preferred Britain as the lesser threat to colonial expansion.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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Britain’s 1763 boundary barring settlement west of the Appalachians enraged colonists who wanted to expand across the continent.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
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The deepest cause of the American Revolution was competition over land, specifically Native American land, not taxation alone.
The Rest Is HistoryKen Burns on Why America Really Declared Independence
@history
Justice, liberty, and oppression are learned concepts. Language provides the first spark for questioning the world.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
North Korea’s army is not designed to fight an external enemy. It is designed to control its own people.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Ideologies can change one small revision at a time until entire generations accept the altered order as normal.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
North Korea has no internet, unreliable electricity, and little visual variety in clothing or the built environment.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Government becomes dangerous when it imposes equal outcomes on people with unequal abilities, preferences, and starting points.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Severe suffering can deepen gratitude, joy, love, empathy, and meaning.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
If the United States loses freedom, humanity may lose its last major counterweight to China’s authoritarian model.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Many North Koreans do not recognize their oppression because they have never seen an alternative reality.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Cold War propaganda caricatured both Russia and America, turning mutual demonization into a failure that improved neither country.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Diversity meetings can multiply until they consume every institutional conversation and displace substantive matters.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
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North Koreans have been portrayed as robotic and emotionally alien. Humanizing them is meaningful work.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
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Systems that fix clearly defined problems build progress. Bullying people into conformity does not.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
A dictator may lead oppression, but silence from everyone else helps keep the dystopia alive.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
People will give a million dollars to save dolphins while humans endure severe abuse.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Social media can ignite outrage and hashtags for ten minutes before users chase the next instant pleasure.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
We tell ourselves stories to survive unbearable experiences and keep moving, even when those stories cannot be verified.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
For a North Korean escapee, her son’s birth restored fear, care, and emotional connection.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Selling a child can look heartless while feeling, to the parent, like the only way to save that child.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
Someone can love the country that harmed them and still feel permanently like an outsider elsewhere.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
North Korea banned words like “famine” and “hunger,” replacing them with the euphemism “arduous march.”
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196
@history
A closed regime can erase the vocabulary needed to imagine romantic love, human rights, liberty, or even fashion.
Lex FridmanYeonmi Park: North Korea | Lex Fridman Podcast #196

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