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Category: Education

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Abraham Lincoln, Inventor

Posted by: Jim Martin

In the fall of 1848, a one-term congressman from Illinois returned home from Washington, D.C.,via a trip through the Great Lakes. While on the Detroit River, Congressman Lincoln observed the crew of a steamer that had run aground wedge empty casks and barrels under the vessel’s gunwales to increase its buoyancy. The attempt worked and gave …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Today in History: Resignation of Vice President John C. Calhoun

Posted by: Jim Martin

On this day in 1832, John C. Calhoun submitted his resignation as the seventh Vice President of the United States.  First elected to the House of Representatives in 1810, he would spend almost all of the remainder of his life serving in either the executive or legislative branches.  He had a towering intellect, an overweening ambition, and a strong sense …