—“Mr. Johnson, (said I) I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it.”
—“That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help.”
May 16 is Biographers Day – marking the 1st meeting of James Boswell & Samuel Johnson in 1763
How a brawl in 18th-century Constantinople changed what we know about the Vikings
"Ibn Fadlan’s first-hand account of the Rus and their funerary rituals has secured his reputation as an important source for the study of ritual and belief across the Viking world. Nowhere else do we encounter eyewitness insight into this kind of Viking funerary ritual."
🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 "Leading up to the War of American Independence, a debate began in the Dutch Republic on how neutrality could be advantageously defined to promote commerce without becoming involved in wars of ‘entangling alliances'. The actors in this debate would produce arguments that were later adopted by members of George Washington’s cabinet."
🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 "Leading up to the War of American Independence, a debate began in the Dutch Republic on how neutrality could be advantageously defined to promote commerce without becoming involved in wars of ‘entangling alliances'. The actors in this debate would produce arguments that were later adopted by members of George Washington’s cabinet. Alexander Hamilton was the advocate of ‘strict' neutrality, while Thomas Jefferson was in favour of ‘active’ neutrality."
"Leading up to the War of American Independence, a debate began in the Dutch Republic on how neutrality could be advantageously defined to promote commerce without becoming involved in wars of ‘entangling alliances'. The actors in this debate would produce arguments that were later adopted by members of George Washington’s cabinet. Alexander Hamilton was the advocate of ‘strict' neutrality, while Thomas Jefferson was in favour of ‘active’ neutrality."
Dark Brilliance: The Age of Reason From Descartes to Peter the Great by Paul Strathern
During the 1600s, between the end of the Renaissance and the start of the Enlightenment, Europe lived through an era known as the Age of Reason. This was a revolutionary period which saw great advances in areas such as art, science, philosophy, political theory and economics.
🇺🇸 🇬🇧 "Left out from history are the attempts of the founders to force Britain to return thousands of escapees from slavery they sheltered. Patriot state leaders tried to coerce the return of all fugitives from slavery evacuated with the British army by blocking payment of debts to England in violation of the Treaty of Paris. Such actions ultimately caused the breakdown of the agreement and exposed the structural inability of the Congress to enforce the terms of a duly ratified treaty over intransigent states."
"This article draws upon archival research and the published materials of former slaves, novelists, slave owners, abolitionists, Atlantic travelers, and police reports to link the systems of slave hunting in Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, and the US South throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."