Free Republic

Yesterday in history, was the 100th anniversary of the Iranian Consitutitional Revolution in 1904. The war for freedom lasted 5 years. Iranians were the first Asian nation that uprised against the dictatorship of the rulers. They protested againt the Qajari Kings and the rule of Radical Islam. And they successfully made the first Asian Parliament and make the king respect the Parliamentary system. Good to know that an American Teacher died in clashes with Kings forces while helping Iranian constitutionalist forces in city of Tabriz. Iranians still pay tribute to his grave in that city and are thankful for his...

FEW Americans have heard of Howard Conklin Baskerville, but most Iranians know his name. A native of Nebraska, Baskerville graduated from the Princeton Theological Seminary and moved to Iran as a Presbyterian missionary. He was 23. The year was 1907. Baskerville was an idealist at a time of idealism in Iran. The year before Baskerville’s arrival, the ailing king of Iran, Mozaffar ud-Din Shah, had bowed to popular demands for a constitutional monarchy and Iranians had drafted the first Constitution of their 25-century-long history. A parliament, the Majlis, was established and each city elected an assembly, or Anjoman. Tabriz —...