header by Emerson Taymor, 2005


1. The Colonial Era: 1607-1763

2. The Revolutionary Era: 1763-1789

3. The Early National Period: 1789-1824

4. Jacksonian America: 1824-1848

5. Antebellum America: 1848-1860

6. The Civil War Era: 1861-1877

7. The Gilded Age: 1877-1901

8. Progressivism: 1901-1920

9. The Twenties

10. Depression and New Deal: 1929-1939

11. World War II: 1939-1945

12. Early Cold War: 1945-1963

13. Social Ferment: 1945-1960

14. The Sixties

15. The Seventies and After

 

 

 


Benjamin Franklin, letter, 1758

A Man of Words, and not of Deeds,
Is like a Garden full of Weeds.

'Tis pity that Good Works among some sorts of people are so little Valued, and Good Words admired in their Stead; I mean seemingly Pious Discourses instead of Humane Benevolent Actions. These they almost put out of countenance, by calling Morality rotten Morality; Righteousness, ragged Rigteousness and even flithy Rags; and when you mention Virtue, they pucker up their Noses as if they smelt a Stink; at the same time that they eagerly snuff up an empty canting Harangue as if it was a Posie of the Choicest Flowers. So they have inverted the good old Verse, and say now

A Man of Deeds and not of Words
Is like a Garden full of ______

I have forgot the Rhime, but remember 'tis something the very Reverse of a Perfume.