We have written a number of posts about Lame Duck congresses and what happens at the beginning of a new Congress, but we thought this year we would take a moment to talk about what happens during the second session of a Congress. Before the ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933, Congress began on …
As a student of history, I often wonder how many people understand the significance of the date of Veterans Day and why it is always celebrated on the day of the holiday and not, like Labor Day or Memorial Day, observed on a Monday. The holiday began originally as a commemoration associated with World War I …
Every year in September, school begins, the weather cools down, and the federal fiscal year comes to an end. Congress must pass legislation before October 1 to continue funding the government for the next fiscal year. Congress has a number of legislative vehicles they can use to fund the government, including appropriation bills, or omnibus …
My sister Sarah recently sent me a book about our hometown of Los Alamos, New Mexico. The book is entitled “Los Alamos and the Pajarito Plateau” and was co-written by the Los Alamos Historical Society. Though I regretted the book did not contain more pictures from the 1970s and 1980s when we were growing up, …
Several years ago, I came across a reference in the Congressional Globe to some sort of crime which seemed to have been committed by a member of Congress. I was intrigued and being an avid mystery reader, wanted to discover who had done what to whom! The entry which originally caught my eye appeared on …
When I began my research on the history of this national motto which prominently appears on U.S. currency, I glanced at the Wikipedia article on “In God we trust.” The entry contends that the motto was inspired by the fourth verse of the Star Spangled Banner: “Then conquer we must, when our cause is just, And …
March is Women’s History Month. This year, March has also seen the Centennial of the 1913 Suffrage March, and International Women’s Day. Women’s History Month was established in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 to establish Women’s History Week. Both this law and the subsequent Presidential Proclamation 4903 speak to the important role women played …
In 1796, towards the end of his second term, President Washington wrote a letter to the “People of the United States” in which he announced that he would not be seeking a third term. This letter to the nation was originally published in the American Daily Advertiser and then in other papers throughout the country but …
I had an interesting query a few months ago from a patron about a proposed constitutional amendment which the patron believed President Lincoln had signed. This was unusual in itself since Article V of the U.S. Constitution does not require presidents to sign constitutional amendments passed by Congress. The key to this query was the date …