- Feed has no items.
- Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin Awarded Patent (1794)on March 14, 2025 at 5:00 am
By the end of the 18th century, the mechanization of fabric production in England had created a huge demand for US cotton, but cotton production was hampered by the large amount of manual labor required to remove the sticky seeds from the raw fiber. Whitney's cotton gin solved this problem, performing the work mechanically and quickly. Cotton production in the US skyrocketed, as did the slave population—which quadrupled by 1850. Why was Whitney unable to profit from his invention? Discuss
- Kapp Putsch Briefly Ousts Weimar Republic Government (1920)on March 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
The fledgling Weimar Republic was just a year old when a renegade right-wing military unit made the first serious coup attempt. The government had tried to disband the unit to comply with the Versailles Treaty—which limited military power in Germany—so the brigade took Berlin. The legitimate regime fled, and Wolfgang Kapp, a radical civil servant, formed a new government. Within days, the coup collapsed and the former regime returned, thanks to a massive swell of support from whom?
- First "Fireside Chat" by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933)on March 12, 2025 at 5:00 am
The "fireside chats" were a series of informal radio speeches delivered by president Roosevelt beginning in 1933, when the US was in the midst of the Great Depression and a third of Americans were unemployed. With his calm manner and simple way of explaining issues, Roosevelt discussed such issues as the banking crisis, the New Deal program, and the drought. During WWII, he reported on the progress of the war and discussed national defense. How many fireside chats did he deliver in all?
