Free Republic

Catherine the Great of Russia (1729-1796) rebuffed King George III's requests and bribes to have Russia side with Britain during the Revolutionary War. Instead, Russia continued trading with the American colonies, providing much needed supplies. Catherine even attempted to negotiate a peace with France and Britain to bring an early end to the war in America's favor. Catherine the Great had earlier deposed her husband, Tsar Peter III, in a coup. She then fought the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774), against the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire. Her General, Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov destroyed the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Chesma, July 5-7,...

Christianity is the largest religion in the world, approximately a third of the world's population, according to Pew Research Center (2015). Christmas Day could possibly be considered the most celebrated religious holiday on the planet. The date of Christmas on December 25 has been studied for centuries. Some think that since it was in the winter, shepherds would not have been in the field with their flocks, but this argument loses credibility when one considers the moderate climate of Bethlehem in December, with an average daily temperature of around 50 degrees, similar to Florida or Texas. Some think December 25...

In the 8th century before Christ, the Prophet Isaiah wrote (7:14): "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The Gospel of Matthew, 1:20-23, relates: "The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from...

Several months ago, I blocked vacation time at work for January, and over the course of the last few months have been planning the trip. Plane fare, a few sights to see, but most importantly, my trip by foot down Pennsylvania Avenue. Nothing is more important than this. Or at least, when I marched in 2010 it was Pennsylvania Avenue where the Tea Partiers went. I can honestly say, those protests were some of the most fun I've ever had in my life, and I've been all around the country and seen and done many things. It's been too long,...

On OCTOBER 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted 95 debate questions or "theses" on the door of Wittenberg Church, which began the movement known as "the Reformation." Luther's initial objection was to the methods employed by Johann Tetzel to sell indulgences. He was then fiercely attacked by Johann Eck. In 1521, 34-year-old Martin Luther was summoned to stand trial before the most powerful man in the world, 21-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Charles V of Spain had an empire that spanned nearly 2 million square miles, across Europe, the Netherlands, the Far East, North and South...

John Adams wrote A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765: "The desire of dominion ... when ... restraints are taken off ... becomes an encroaching, grasping, restless, and ungovernable power ... contrived by the great for the gratification of this passion ... Originally formed ... for the necessary defense ... against ... invasions ... yet ... tyranny, cruelty, and lust ... was soon adopted by almost all the princes of Europe ... The people were held in ignorance ... till God in his benign providence raised up the champions who began and conducted the Reformation. From the time...

October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Exchange crashed. Panic ensued as Wall Street sold 16,410,030 shares in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost and America plunged into the Great Depression. An estimated 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of all banks failed. Ending the  "Roaring Twenties," the Great Depression began with a rapid contraction of credit. This occurred despite the existence of the Federal Reserve which was created with promises that it would prevent financial panics. Democrat Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan had stated (Hearst's Magazine, Nov 1923): "The Federal Reserve Bank that...

The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was dedicated OCTOBER 28, 1886. A gift from France, it weighs 450,000 lbs, and stands on a pedestal base, rising 305 feet from the ground to the top of its torch. Earlier immense statues in history having symbolic meaning were the Colossus of Rhodes - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - and the Colossus of Nero, from which the nearby amphitheater in Rome took its name - Colosseum, both statues being over 100 feet high. French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi spent two years designing an earlier version of the Statue...

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was born OCTOBER 27, 1858. As a child, he had debilitating asthma, often waking up at night as if being smothered to death. At 6-years-old, he watched Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession from the window of his grandfather's mansion in Union Square, New York City. Theodore was home-schooled as a child, becoming fascinated with animals and zoology after seeing a dead seal in a local market. His father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., was a successful New York business leader, who helped raise support for the Union during the Civil War. Young Theodore described him: "My father, Theodore Roosevelt, was...

In September of 1774, Dr. Joseph Warren wrote the Suffolk Resolves. British statesman Edmund Burke cited the Suffolk Resolves as a major development in colonial animosity, which eventually led to the Declaration of Independence. The Suffolk Resolves stated: "That it is an indispensable duty which we owe to God, our country, ourselves and posterity, by all lawful ways and means in our power to maintain, defend and preserve those civil and religious rights and liberties, for which many of our fathers fought, bled and died, and to hand them down entire to future generations ... and that the inhabitants of...

The United Nations officially began OCTOBER 24, 1945. Its name was coined by President Franklin Roosevelt. The United Nations' charter was drafted in the Garden Room of San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel. The Charter meeting did not open with prayer. The United Nations was created to prevent future wars, particularly to guarantee there would not be another genocidal holocaust, such as what Jews experienced at the hands of Hitler's National Socialist Workers Party. Unfortunately, there have been nearly 150 wars with over 100 million casualties from the day the 5 in Central Asia, 11 in South Asia, 20 in Southeast Asia,...

Sam Houston descended from Ulster Scots, whose ancestor was a Norman knight. His great, great-grandfather, Sir John Houston, had an estate in Scotland. His great-grandfather, also named John Houston, emigrated from Scotland to Pennsylvania in 1735, then to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, where he and other Scots-Irish settlers founded the Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church. Sam Houston's father, Major Samuel Houston, fought in General Daniel Morgan's Rifle Brigade during the Revolutionary War. His uncle, Rev. Samuel Houston, was a Presbyterian minister who attempted to found the State of Franklin out of western North Carolina, an area that would instead be the eastern...

In 1794, British Admiral Horatio Nelson lost his right eye capturing Corsica and his right arm attacking the Canary Islands in 1797. He captured six and destroyed seven of Napoleon's ships at the Battle of the Nile, trapping Napoleon in Muslim Egypt. Admiral Nelson assaulted Copenhagen. Horatio Nelson is best remembered for winning one of the greatest naval battles in history, the Battle of Trafalgar, OCTOBER 21, 1805. The daring 47-year-old Nelson defeated 36-year-old Napoleon's combined French and Spanish fleets, consisting of 33 ships with 2,640 guns off the coast of Spain. On reason for the victory was the speed...

Americans won the Battle of Kings Mountain, October 7, 1780. Where the Americans had 29 killed, the British suffered 668 captured, 163 wounded and 290 killed, including the feared British sharp shooter Major Patrick Ferguson. Ferguson, earlier at the Battle of Brandywine, had the opportunity to sharp shoot in the back General Washington and Count Casimir Pulaski, "father of the American cavalry," but declined due to his code of honor. The Battle of Kings Mountain was described by Thomas Jefferson as "the turn of the tide of success" in the War for Independence. Theodore Roosevelt wrote of the Battle of...

Britain's William Laud had spies listen to pastors' sermon to see if they said anything against the King's ordinances. If they did, the pastors were arrested. Decisions to punish political enemies of the King were made in the secret "Star Chamber." No witnesses were allowed in these arbitrary and oppressive inquisitions. Though started with the intention to cut through the red tape of bureaucracy, Britain's Court of Star Chamber usurped power. It became a political weapon for auditing, intimidating and punishing opponents to the King's policies, similar to modern-day IRS audits or partisan secret special counsel investigations. Individuals were subject...

In June of 1777, British General "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne was marching from Quebec, Canada toward Albany, New York, with an army of 7,000 British and Hessian troops. British General William Howe was supposed to be marching north, up the Hudson River Valley, from New York City to Albany in a "divide and conquer" entrapment plan. Instead, without telling Burgoyne, General Howe abandoned the plan and left to capture Philadelphia - the capital of the new United States. This was in accordance with European warfare, that when an enemy's capital was captured, the war would immediately end. British General Burgoyne first...

In 1655, British Admiral William Penn, the father of Pennsylvania's founder, captured Jamaica from the Spanish. As Jamaica was too far from England be defended, inhabitants turned to privateers, freebooters, buccaneers and pirates for protection. Port Royal, Jamaica, became a haven for the likes of Blackbeard, Calico Jack and Captain Henry Morgan. With English, Portuguese, French and Dutch establishing bases in the Caribbean, Spain's power was being challenged. Spain's most prosperous port in the New World was Porto Bello, Panama. Spanish ships were loaded at Porto Bello with gold and silver from Peru, and then they set sail for Spain....

Yale President Ezra Stiles stated in 1783: "Most states of all ages ... have been founded in rapacity, usurpation and injustice ... The Nimrods ... (were) the first invading tyrants of the ancient ages ... The spirit of conquest had changed the first governments ... All succeeding ones have in general proved one continued series of injustice, which has reigned in all countries for almost 4,000 years." The first invention ever was the plow. The Bible tells that Cain was a "tiller of the soil." Then people started hitting each other with them and they turned into weapons. British philosopher...

After Columbus discovered the New World, Spain grew in power to surpass Portugal as the largest global empire, giving rise the saying, the sun never set on the Spanish Empire. From Madrid, the Spanish Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ruled territories in Europe, North America, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and all the way to the Philippines. Catholic Spain was instrumental in beating back the attacks of the Muslim Ottoman Turks from taking over Europe, most notably at the Battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. Rather than following up on this astounding victory and freeing the...

The Daily Mail reported October 13, 2018, that: "Muhammad is now the most popular name for baby boys in England." Breitbart News, April 2, 2017, published in an article "423 New Mosques, 500 Closed Churches in London," quoting The Gatestone Institute report: "London is more Islamic than many Muslim countries put together ... British multi-culturalists are feeding Islamic fundamentalism ... Londonistan, with its new 423 mosques, is built on the sad ruins of English Christianity ... Given the current trends, Christianity in England is becoming a relic, while Islam will be the religion of the future." The London Daily Express,...