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Introduction

Flag of the United States of America

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

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  "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, Nevermind (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled Nevermind to the top of several albums charts at the start of 1992, an event often marked as the point when grunge entered the mainstream. It was Nirvana's biggest hit, charting high on music industry charts around the world in 1991 and 1992, and was number one on the charts in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Spain. It was met with wide critical acclaim, and described as an "anthem for apathetic kids" of Generation X. Although Nirvana grew uncomfortable with the mainstream and commercial attention the song brought to them, listeners and critics continue to praise "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as one of the greatest songs of all time.
  
  The music video for the song is based on the concept of a high school pep rally which ends in chaos and riot, inspired by Jonathan Kaplan's 1979 film Over the Edge and the Ramones' film Rock 'n' Roll High School. It won two MTV Video Music Awards, and was in heavy rotation on MTV during the 1990s. In subsequent years Amy Finnerty, formerly of MTV's programming department, claimed the video "changed the entire look of MTV" by giving the channel "a whole new generation to sell to". In 2000, the Guinness World Records named "Smells Like Teen Spirit" the "Most Played Video" on MTV Europe. (Full article...)
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  The Mercury Seven in 1960
  Back: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper;
  Front: Wally Schirra, Deke Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter

  
  The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. The Mercury Seven created a new profession in the United States, and established the image of the American astronaut for decades to come.
  
  All of the Mercury Seven eventually flew in space. They piloted the six spaceflights of the Mercury program that had an astronaut on board from May 1961 to May 1963, and members of the group flew on all of the NASA human spaceflight programs of the 20th century – Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle. (Full article...)
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  Appaloosa horse

  
  The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's color pattern is genetically the result of various spotting patterns overlaid on top of one of several recognized base coat colors. The color pattern of the Appaloosa is of interest to those who study equine coat color genetics, as it and several other physical characteristics are linked to the leopard complex mutation (LP). Appaloosas are prone to develop equine recurrent uveitis and congenital stationary night blindness; the latter has been linked to the leopard complex.
  
  Artwork depicting prehistoric horses with leopard spotting exists in prehistoric cave paintings in Europe. Images of domesticated horses with leopard spotting patterns appeared in artwork from Ancient Greece and Han dynasty China through the early modern period. In North America, the Nez Perce people of what today is the United States Pacific Northwest developed the original American breed. Settlers once referred to these spotted horses as the "Palouse horse", possibly after the Palouse River, which ran through the heart of Nez Perce country. Gradually, the name evolved into Appaloosa. (Full article...)
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  The York County, Maine, Tercentenary half dollar is a 50-cent commemorative coin minted in 1936 to mark the tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the founding of York County, Maine. The obverse shows Brown's Garrison, the fort around which York County was formed, while the reverse depicts the county's arms.
  
  A commemorative coin craze in 1936 saw some coins authorized by the United States Congress that were of mainly local significance; the York County issue was one of these. Legislation permitting the half dollar passed Congress without opposition in the first half of 1936. Maine artist Walter H. Rich designed the issue; his work has garnered mixed praise and dislike from numismatic authors. (Full article...)
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  Willkie in 1940

  
  Wendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for president. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican field's only interventionist: although the U.S. remained neutral prior to Pearl Harbor, he favored greater U.S. involvement in World War II to support Britain and other Allies. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the 1940 election with about 55% of the popular vote and took the electoral college vote by a wide margin.
  
  Willkie was born in Elwood, Indiana, in 1892; both his parents were lawyers, and he also became one. He served in World War I but was not sent to France until the final days of the war, and saw no action. Willkie settled in Akron, Ohio, where he was initially employed by Firestone, but left for a law firm, becoming one of the leaders of the Akron Bar Association. Much of his work was representing electric utilities, and in 1929 Willkie accepted a job in New York City as counsel for Commonwealth & Southern Corporation (C&S), a utility holding company. He was rapidly promoted, and became corporate president in 1933. Roosevelt was sworn in as U.S. president soon after Willkie became head of C&S, and announced plans for a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that would supply power in competition with C&S. Between 1933 and 1939, Willkie fought against the TVA before Congress, in the courts, and before the public. He was ultimately unsuccessful, but sold C&S's property for a good price, and gained public esteem. (Full article...)
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  Sounders FC players lift the U.S. Open Cup trophy after winning the final.

  
  The 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final was played on September 2, 2009, at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. The match determined the winner of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup, a tournament open to amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with the United States Soccer Federation. This was the 96th edition of the oldest competition in United States soccer. The match was won by Seattle Sounders FC, who defeated D.C. United 2–1. Clyde Simms scored D.C. United's only goal. Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque scored Seattle's two goals as the club became the second expansion team in Major League Soccer (MLS) history to win the tournament in their inaugural season.
  
  D.C. United entered the tournament as the competition's defending champions. They had previously won the tournament in 1996 as well. Both Sounders FC and D.C. United had to play through two qualification rounds for MLS teams before entering the official tournament. Prior to the final, there was a public dispute between the owners of the two clubs regarding the selection of D.C. United to host it at their home field, RFK Stadium. (Full article...)
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  The California Pacific International Exposition half dollar, sometimes called the California Pacific half dollar or the San Diego half dollar, is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935 and 1936. Robert Ingersoll Aitken designed the coin. Its obverse depicts Minerva and other elements of the Seal of California; the reverse shows buildings from the California Pacific International Exposition (held 1935–1936), which the coin was issued to honor.
  
  Legislation for the half dollar moved through Congress without opposition in early 1935, and Aitken was hired to design it. Once his creation was approved, the San Francisco Mint produced 250,000 coins, but expected sales did not materialize. Left with more than 180,000 pieces they could not sell, the Exposition Commission went back to Congress for further legislation so it could return the unsold pieces and have new coins, dated 1936, hoping for greater sales in the second year of the fair's run. Although the commission was successful in getting the legislation passed, it was less so in selling the coins, and 150,000 1936-dated pieces were returned to the Mint. The coins, of either date, sell in the low hundreds of dollars today. (Full article...)
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  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26 May 1967, Sgt. Pepper is regarded by musicologists as an early concept album that advanced the roles of sound composition, extended form, psychedelic imagery, record sleeves, and the producer in popular music. The album had an immediate cross-generational impact and was associated with numerous touchstones of the era's youth culture, such as fashion, drugs, mysticism, and a sense of optimism and empowerment. Critics lauded the album for its innovations in songwriting, production and graphic design, for bridging a cultural divide between popular music and high art, and for reflecting the interests of contemporary youth and the counterculture.
  
  At the end of August 1966, the Beatles had permanently retired from touring and pursued individual interests for the next three months. During a return flight to London in November, Paul McCartney had an idea for a song involving an Edwardian military band that formed the impetus of the Sgt. Pepper concept. For this project, they continued the technological experimentation marked by their previous album, Revolver (1966), this time without an absolute deadline for completion. Sessions began on 24 November at EMI Studios with compositions inspired by the Beatles' youth, but after pressure from EMI, the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP. The album was then loosely conceptualised as a performance by the fictional Sgt. Pepper band, an idea that was conceived after recording the title track. (Full article...)
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  John Wick is a 2014 American action thriller film directed by Chad Stahelski and written by Derek Kolstad. Keanu Reeves stars as John Wick, a legendary hitman who comes out of retirement to seek revenge against the men who killed his dog, a final gift from his recently deceased wife. The film also stars Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen, Adrianne Palicki, Bridget Moynahan, Dean Winters, Ian McShane, John Leguizamo, and Willem Dafoe.
  
  Kolstad's script drew on his interest in action, revenge, and neo noir films. The producer Basil Iwanyk purchased the rights as his first independent film production. Reeves, whose career was declining, liked the script and recommended that the experienced stunt choreographers Stahelski and David Leitch direct the action scenes; Stahelski and Leitch successfully lobbied to co-direct the project. Principal photography began in October 2013, on a $20–$30 million budget, and concluded that December. Stahelski and Leitch focused on long, highly choreographed single takes to convey action, eschewing the rapid cuts and closeup shots of contemporary action films. (Full article...)
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  The Anbar campaign consisted of fighting between the United States military, together with Iraqi security forces, and Sunni insurgents in the western Iraqi governorate of Al Anbar. The Iraq War lasted from 2003 to 2011, but the majority of the fighting and counterinsurgency campaign in Anbar took place between April 2004 and September 2007. Although the fighting initially featured heavy urban warfare primarily between insurgents and U.S. Marines, insurgents in later years focused on ambushing the American and Iraqi security forces with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), large scale attacks on combat outposts, and car bombings. Almost 9,000 Iraqis and 1,335 Americans were killed in the campaign, many in the Euphrates River Valley and the Sunni Triangle around the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi.
  
  Al Anbar, the only Sunni-dominated province in Iraq, saw little fighting in the initial invasion. Following the fall of Baghdad it was occupied by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division. Violence began on 28 April 2003 when 17 Iraqis were killed in Fallujah by U.S. soldiers during an anti-American demonstration. In early 2004 the U.S. Army relinquished command of the governorate to the Marines. By April 2004 the governorate was in full-scale revolt. Savage fighting occurred in both Fallujah and Ramadi by the end of 2004, including the Second Battle of Fallujah. Violence escalated throughout 2005 and 2006 as the two sides struggled to secure the Western Euphrates River Valley. During this time, Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) became the governorate's main Sunni insurgent group and turned the provincial capital of Ramadi into its stronghold. The Marine Corps issued an intelligence report in late 2006 declaring that the governorate would be lost without a significant additional commitment of troops. (Full article...)
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  Benjamin, c. 1856

  
  Judah Philip Benjamin QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to Britain at the end of the American Civil War, an English barrister. Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith.
  
  Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London who had moved to Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Seeking greater opportunities, his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar. (Full article...)
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  Interstate 470 (I-470) is a 10.63-mile-long (17.11 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway of I-70 that bypasses the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, United States. I-470 is one of 13 auxiliary Interstate Highways in Ohio and the only auxiliary Interstate Highway in West Virginia. The western terminus of I-470 is an interchange with I-70 in Richland Township, Ohio. Traveling southeast through rural Belmont County, I-470 approaches the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge, which spans the Ohio River. After crossing the river into Ohio County, West Virginia, the highway continues east toward the Wheeling communities of Bethlehem and Elm Grove and its eastern terminus at I-70 near Elm Grove. The portion of the highway in West Virginia is named the USS West Virginia Memorial Highway by proclamation of then-Governor Cecil H. Underwood on the 59th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  
  Construction of the freeway began in 1975 in the two states. Due to a chronic lack of funding, construction in Ohio was stalled between 1976 and 1981. After a $0.033-per-US-gallon ($0.040/imp gal; $0.0087/L) fuel tax increase, Ohio was able to restart construction, and, by 1983, both states had completed construction on the freeway. The three-level diamond interchange with concurrent highways U.S. Route 250 (US 250) and West Virginia Route 2 (WV 2) on the eastern banks of the Ohio River was thought to be the most complex interchange in West Virginia's Interstate Highway System at the time of construction. On average, between 25,500 and 37,840 vehicles use the highway daily. (Full article...)
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  Official portrait of Cooper while serving

  
  John Sherman Cooper (August 23, 1901 – February 21, 1991) was an American politician, jurist, and diplomat from the United States. He served three non-consecutive, partial terms in the United States Senate before being elected to two full terms in 1960 and 1966, representing Kentucky. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 1955 to 1956 and U.S. Ambassador to East Germany from 1974 to 1976. He was the first Republican to be popularly elected to more than one term as a senator from Kentucky and, in both 1960 and 1966, he set records for the largest victory margin for a Kentucky senatorial candidate from either party.
  
  Cooper's first political service was as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1928 to 1930. In 1929, he was elected county judge of Pulaski County. After a failed gubernatorial bid in 1939, he joined the U.S. Army in 1942. During World War II, he earned the Bronze Star Medal for reorganizing the Bavarian judicial system after the allied victory in Europe. While still in Germany, he was elected circuit judge for Kentucky's 28th circuit. He returned home to accept the judgeship, which he held for less than a year before resigning to seek election to A. B. "Happy" Chandler's vacated seat in the U.S. Senate. He won the seat by 41,823 votes, the largest victory margin by any Republican for any office in Kentucky up to that time. (Full article...)
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  Mounted skeleton of S. stenops (nicknamed "Sophie"), Natural History Museum, London

  
  Stegosaurus (/ˌstɛɡəˈsɔːrəs/; lit. 'roof-lizard') is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been found in the western United States and in Portugal, where they are found in Kimmeridgian- to Tithonian-aged strata, dating to between 155 and 145 million years ago. Of the species that have been classified in the upper Morrison Formation of the western US, only three are universally recognized: S. stenops, S. ungulatus and S. sulcatus. The remains of over 80 individual animals of this genus have been found. Stegosaurus would have lived alongside dinosaurs such as Apatosaurus, Diplodocus, Camarasaurus and Allosaurus, the latter of which may have preyed on it.
  
  They were large, heavily built, herbivorous quadrupeds with rounded backs, short fore limbs, long hind limbs, and tails held high in the air. Due to their distinctive combination of broad, upright plates and tail tipped with spikes, Stegosaurus is one of the most recognizable kinds of dinosaurs. The function of this array of plates and spikes has been the subject of much speculation among scientists. Today, it is generally agreed that their spiked tails were most likely used for defense against predators, while their plates may have been used primarily for display, and secondarily for thermoregulatory functions. Stegosaurus had a relatively low brain-to-body mass ratio. It had a short neck and a small head, meaning it most likely ate low-lying bushes and shrubs. One species, Stegosaurus ungulatus, is one of the largest known of all the stegosaurians, with the largest known specimens measuring about 7.5 metres (25 ft) long and weighing over 5 metric tons (5.5 short tons). (Full article...)
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  Mary Margaret O'Reilly (October 14, 1865 – December 6, 1949) was an American civil servant who served as the assistant director of the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1924 until 1938. One of the United States government's highest-ranking female employees of her time, she worked at the Mint for 34 years, during which she often served as acting director during the Mint Director's absence.
  
  O'Reilly was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to an Irish immigrant family. Growing up in that state, she left school around the age of 14 to help support both her widowed mother and her siblings. Likely starting work in the local textile mills, she gained clerical training at night school before working as a clerk in Worcester for eighteen years. In 1904, O'Reilly gained a position at the Mint Bureau, resulting in a move to Washington, D.C. She rose rapidly in the bureau's hierarchy – an unusual feat for a woman at that time – and was frequently called upon to testify before the United States Congress. As many of the Mint's directors were political appointees who had little knowledge or interest in the bureau's operations, the task of running the institution often fell to her. In 1924 she was officially appointed assistant director. (Full article...)
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  Teller in 1958

  
  Edward Teller (Hungarian: Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of the Teller–Ulam design based on Stanisław Ulam's design.
  
  Born in Austria-Hungary in 1908, Teller emigrated to the United States in the 1930s, one of the many so-called "Martians", a group of prominent Hungarian scientist émigrés. He made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy (in particular the Jahn–Teller and Renner–Teller effects), and surface physics. His extension of Enrico Fermi's theory of beta decay, in the form of Gamow–Teller transitions, provided an important stepping stone in its application, while the Jahn–Teller effect and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) theory have retained their original formulation and are still mainstays in physics and chemistry. (Full article...)
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  William Hayden English (August 27, 1822 – February 7, 1896) was an American politician. He served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana from 1853 to 1861 and was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1880.
  
  English retired from the House in 1861, but remained involved in party affairs. In the American Civil War he was a War Democrat, supporting the Union war effort. As well as pursuing a political career, he was an author and businessman. He owned an opera house, was president of a bank, and developed many residential properties. English was successful in business, and became one of the wealthiest men in Indiana. After nearly two decades in the private sector, English returned to political life as the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1880. English and his presidential running mate, Winfield Scott Hancock, lost narrowly to their Republican opponents, James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. (Full article...)
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  Ann Arbor skyline

  
  Ann Arbor is a city in and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the fifth-most populous city in Michigan. Located on the Huron River, Ann Arbor is the principal city of the Ann Arbor metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Washtenaw County and had 372,258 residents in 2020.
  
  Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. It was named after the wives of the village's founders, both named Ann, and the stands of bur oak trees they found at the site of the town. The University of Michigan was established in Ann Arbor in 1837, and the city's population grew at a rapid rate in the early to mid-20th century. (Full article...)
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  Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise. The Motion Picture is based on and stars the cast of the 1966–1969 television series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, who serves as producer. In the film, set in the 2270s, a mysterious and powerful alien cloud known as V'Ger approaches Earth, destroying everything in its path. Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) assumes command of the recently refitted Starship Enterprise to lead it on a mission to determine V'Ger's origins and save the planet.
  
  When Star Trek was canceled in 1969, Roddenberry lobbied Paramount Pictures to continue the franchise through a feature film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on the film in 1975. A series of writers and scripts did not satisfy Paramount, and they scrapped the film project. Instead, Paramount planned on returning the franchise to its roots, with a new television series titled Star Trek: Phase II. The box office success of Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind convinced Paramount to change course, canceling production of Phase II and resuming work on a film. (Full article...)
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  Portrait by Mathew Brady, c. 1870–1880

  
  James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 6, 1912) was an American politician in Iowa who was a member of the United States House of Representatives and two-time candidate for President of the United States.
  
  Born in Ohio, he moved to Iowa as a boy when his family claimed a homestead on the frontier. He became politically active as a young man and was an advocate for farmers and laborers. He joined and quit several political parties in the furtherance of the progressive causes in which he believed. After serving in the Union Army in the American Civil War, Weaver returned to Iowa and worked for the election of Republican candidates. (Full article...)
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  Olympic Avenue in downtown Arlington

  
  Arlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city lies on the Stillaguamish River in the western foothills of the Cascade Range, adjacent to the city of Marysville. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Everett, the county seat, and 40 miles (64 km) north of Seattle, the state's largest city. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Arlington had a population of 19,868; its estimated population is 20,075 as of 2021.
  
  The city lies in the traditional territory of the Stillaguamish people, an indigenous Coast Salish group. Arlington was established in the 1880s by settlers and the area was platted as two towns, Arlington and Haller City. Haller City was absorbed by the larger Arlington, which was incorporated as a city in 1903. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Arlington area was the site of major projects undertaken for employment under the direction of federal relief agencies, including construction of a municipal airport that would serve as a naval air station during World War II. Arlington began suburbanizing in the 1980s, growing by more than 450 percent by 2000 and annexing the unincorporated area of Smokey Point to the southwest. (Full article...)
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  "SLAPP Suits" is a segment of HBO's news-satire television series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, focusing on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). It first aired on November 10, 2019, as part of the twenty-ninth episode of the series's sixth season. The episode marked British-American comedian and host John Oliver's response to winning a SLAPP defamation lawsuit against him initiated by American mining businessman Robert E. Murray. The lawsuit began in 2017, after Oliver heavily criticized Murray and his company, Murray Energy, in a segment concerning the coal-mining industry in the United States. Murray claimed in his lawsuit that Oliver had carried out a character assassination against him, but the case was dismissed in under a year, and an appeal by Murray Energy was unsuccessful. During the lawsuit, the American Civil Liberties Union filed an amicus brief that was widely covered due to its sarcastic humor.
  
  In "SLAPP Suits", Oliver discussed the outcome of the lawsuit and the damaging effects of similar lawsuits, giving an overview of Murray's other SLAPPs and their potential harm to independent journalism. Oliver ended the twenty-six-minute segment with the musical number "Eat Shit, Bob!" in celebration of winning the lawsuit, invoking his right under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to make negative jokes and comments about people and corporations. The title of the number references a check returned by a Murray Energy miner on the grounds that it incentivized unsafe mining practices, with the words "Eat Shit Bob" written on the check. The segment and musical number were lauded by critics and nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards, with the episode winning one award for Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control for a Series, and the musical number winning another for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming. (Full article...)
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  The first election for Virginia's 5th congressional district took place on February 2, 1789, for a two-year term to commence on March 4 of that year. In a race that turned on the candidates' positions on the need for amendments (the Bill of Rights) to the recently ratified U.S. Constitution, James Madison defeated James Monroe for a place in the House of Representatives of the First Congress. It is the only congressional election in U.S. history in which two future presidents opposed each other.
  
  The race came about when former governor Patrick Henry and other Anti-Federalists in the Virginia General Assembly, who had opposed the state's ratification of the Constitution, sought to defeat Madison, who had been a strong advocate for ratification, and who wanted to become a member of the new House of Representatives; they had already defeated him in the legislative election to choose Virginia's first U.S. senators. They put forward Monroe, a young but experienced politician who was a war hero wounded at the 1776 Battle of Trenton, as a candidate for the seat. Monroe did not seek the contest, but once drafted campaigned vigorously. Despite bitterly cold weather, the two candidates debated outdoors; traveling after one such meeting, Madison suffered frostbite on his face. (Full article...)
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  The 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1899, to choose the 33rd governor of Kentucky. The incumbent, Republican William O'Connell Bradley, was term-limited and unable to seek re-election.
  
  During a contentious and chaotic convention at the Music Hall in Louisville, the Democratic Party nominated state Senator William Goebel. A dissident faction of the party, styling themselves the "Honest Election Democrats", were angered by Goebel's political tactics at the Music Hall convention and later held their own convention. They nominated former Governor John Y. Brown. Republicans nominated state Attorney General William S. Taylor, although Governor Bradley favored another candidate and lent Taylor little support in the ensuing campaign. In the general election, Taylor won by a vote of 193,714 to 191,331. Brown garnered 12,040 votes, more than the difference between Taylor and Goebel. The election results were challenged on grounds of voter fraud, but the state Board of Elections, created by a law Goebel had sponsored and stacked with pro-Goebel commissioners, certified Taylor's victory. (Full article...)
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  Jackson in 1988

  
  Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, becoming the best-selling solo music act of all time. Over a four-decade career, his vast contributions to music, dance and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture. Jackson influenced artists across a variety of musical styles. Through his decorative singing and visual presentation, he popularized street dance moves such as the moonwalk, which he named, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean.
  
  As the eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his public debut in 1964 with his older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5 (later known as the Jacksons). The Jackson 5 signed with Motown in 1968 and achieved worldwide success with Michael as lead singer. Jackson began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown and recorded multiple successful singles. He became a global solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall. His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. He helped popularize MTV and continued to innovate with videos for his albums Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), and Invincible (2001). Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, while Bad was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that the 1928 Book of Common Prayer was adopted by the Episcopal Church in the United States, but the Church of England's 1928 Book of Common Prayer was rejected by Parliament?
• ... that the success of the book Fifth Chinese Daughter led to the U.S. State Department translating the book into various Asian languages and sending its author on a speaking tour across Asia?
• ... that Angel Joy Chavis Rocker, a guidance counselor with no political experience, was the first black woman to run for President of the United States as a Republican?
• ... that a solvent company can access the bankruptcy courts by doing the Texas two-step?
• ... that a boot is the only monument in the United States dedicated to the traitor Benedict Arnold because it "was the only part of Arnold not to later turn traitor"?
• ... that Rachel Scott reported live during the January 6 United States Capitol attack in her first week as ABC News' White House correspondent?
• ... that Adam Kincaid of the National Republican Redistricting Trust defended lowered competition in US House elections, arguing that the changes would save the party money?
• ... that the case Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. was considered essential to the future of video game modding in the United States in 1992?

Selected society biography -

Gerard K. O'Neill (1927–1992) was an American physicist and space activist. As a faculty member of Princeton University, he invented a device called the particle storage ring for high energy physics experiments. Later he invented a magnetic launcher called the mass driver. In the 1970s he developed a plan to build human settlements in outer space, including a space habitat design known as the O'Neill cylinder. He founded the Space Studies Institute, an organization devoted to funding research into space manufacturing and colonization. In 1965 at Stanford University he performed the first colliding beam physics experiment. While teaching physics at Princeton, O'Neill became interested in the possibility that humans could live in outer space. He researched and proposed a futuristic idea for human settlement in space, the O'Neill cylinder in "The Colonization of Space", his first paper on the subject. He held a conference on space manufacturing at Princeton in 1975. Many who became post-Apollo-era space activists attended. O'Neill built his first mass driver prototype with professor Henry Kolm in 1976. He considered mass drivers critical for extracting the mineral resources of the Moon and asteroids.

Selected image -

• 
  Henry Mayer

  Cartoon credit: Henry Mayer; restored by Adam Cuerden

  This is a cartoon by the German-American cartoonist and animator Henry Mayer (1868–1954), entitled The Awakening, which first appeared in the magazine Puck in February 1915. Published in support of women's suffrage in the United States, the cartoon depicts Lady Liberty wearing a cape labeled "Votes for Women" and standing astride the states (colored white) that had granted women the right to vote. A poem by Alice Duer Miller is printed beneath.
• 
  Migrant worker

  Photo credit: Dorothea Lange

  A 1935 photo of a family of migrant workers in California, United States, during the Great Depression. In the United States, the term "migrant worker" is commonly used to describe low-wage workers performing manual labor in the agriculture field. During the Great Depression, Okies who fled the Dust Bowl were a significant source of temporary farm labor. Outside the U.S., the modern definition of the term by the United Nations includes anyone working outside of their home country.
• 
  Charles J. Guiteau

  Cartoon: James Wales; Restoration: Jujutacular

  An 1881 editorial cartoon of Charles J. Guiteau, an American lawyer who assassinated President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. Guiteau, depicted here holding a note that reads "An office or your life!", believed himself to be largely responsible for Garfield's victory, and demanded an ambassadorship in return, but his requests were rejected. Despite the use of the insanity defense in his trial, he was found guilty and executed by hanging on June 30, 1882.
• 
  Chester A. Arthur

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  Chester A. Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 21st President of the United States from 1881 to 1885. Born in Vermont and raised in upstate New York, Arthur practiced law in New York City before serving as a quartermaster general in the Civil War. He became active in the Republican party after the war, was elected vice president on the ticket of President James A. Garfield, and assumed the presidency upon Garfield's assassination six months into his presidency. He effected a reform of the civil service during his presidency, as well as navy reform and an act to prohibit immigration by Chinese laborers and deny citizenship to those already in the US. Due to his poor health, Arthur did not seek a second term.
• 
  Andrew Jackson

  Engraving credit: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restored by Andrew Shiva

  Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. He has been widely revered in the United States as an advocate for democracy and the common man, but many of his actions proved divisive, garnering both fervent support and strong opposition from different sectors of society. His reputation has suffered since the 1970s, largely due to his pivotal role in the forcible removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands; however, surveys of historians and scholars have ranked Jackson favorably among U.S. presidents.
• 
  Tulsa, Oklahoma

  Photo credit: Clarence Jack

  A 1909 panorama of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa was first settled during the 1830s by the Creek Native American tribe. Shortly before Oklahoma's statehood on November 16, 1907, oil was discovered nearby and the city played a major role as one of the most important hubs for the American oil industry, eventually giving the city the nickname "Oil Capital of the World".
• 
  Rutherford B. Hayes

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was an American soldier and politician who was elected the 19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. The election, at the end of the Reconstruction Era, was highly contentious and he was declared the winner through the Compromise of 1877. As president he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.
• 
  United States Constitution

  Document: Constitutional Convention; scan: National Archives

  The first page of the original handwritten text of the United States Constitution, which took almost four months to draft and over three years to ratify. The first Constitutional Convention began on May 25, 1787, with a quorum at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. Instead the delegates wrote a new constitution, finishing on September 17 of that year, but its ratification by all 13 states was not completed until January 10, 1791. Since then 27 amendments have been made.
  
  Read further: Page 2, Page 3, Page 4
• 
  NAWSA check

  Check: Harriet Taylor Upton (image courtesy of the National Museum of American History)

  A check from the National American Woman Suffrage Association, payable to Rachel Foster Avery, which was filled out by hand by the Association's treasurer Harriet Taylor Upton and countersigned by Susan B. Anthony as president and Alice Stone Blackwell as recording secretary.
  
  NAWSA, formed on February 18, 1890, to work for women's suffrage in the United States, was formally led by Anthony between 1892 and 1900. During her presidency, the small organization focused predominantly on women's rights at the state level—much to Anthony's chagrin. It also sent delegates to the World's Congress of Representative Women at the World's Columbian Exposition.
• 
  Compromise of 1850

  Artist: Peter F. Rothermel; Engraver: Robert Whitechurch; Restoration: Lise Broer and Jujutacular

  U.S. Senator Henry Clay gives a speech in the Old Senate Chamber calling for compromise on the issues dividing the United States. The result was the Compromise of 1850, a package of five bills, the first two of which were passed on September 9. Ironically, these led to a breakdown in the spirit of compromise in the years preceding the Civil War, particularly after the deaths of Clay and Daniel Webster.
• 
  California State Capitol

  Photograph credit: Andre m

  The California State Capitol, located in Sacramento, is the seat of the California government. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, comprising the Assembly and the Senate, along with the office of the governor of California. The Neoclassical structure was designed by Reuben S. Clark and completed between 1861 and 1874. The California State Capitol Museum is housed on its grounds.
• 
  Seattle, Washington

  Photo credit: Cacophony

  The skyline of Seattle, Washington at dusk, viewed from the south. The Columbia Center (middle) is the second tallest building on the West Coast of the United States, and the twelfth tallest in the United States. Smith Tower (left), completed 1914, was at one time the fourth tallest building in the world. The highway in the foreground is Interstate 5.
• 
  Internment of Japanese Americans

  Photograph: Dorothea Lange; Restoration: Bammesk

  The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in concentration camps in the western interior of the country of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. These actions were ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt shortly after Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor.
  
  This picture shows members of the Mochida family in Hayward, California, waiting for an evacuation bus to take them to an internment center.
• 
  Ansel Adams

  Photograph credit: J. Malcolm Greany

  Ansel Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist, known for his black-and-white images of the American West. As a child, he visited Yosemite National Park with his family and was given his first camera. He was later tasked by the United States Department of the Interior to take photographs of national parks. For this work, and for his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980.
• 
  The Grange Poster

  Poster: J. Hale Powers & Co. Fraternity & Fine Art Publishers; restoration: Trialsanderrors

  An 1873 print promoting the Grange, the oldest U.S. agricultural advocacy group with a national scope. In 2005 it had 160,000 members.
  
  The central scene shows a farmer with one foot on his shovel, captioned "I Pay for All". From left to right, the top insets show a farmer's fireside and the Grange in session; the bottom ones show a harvest dance, a broken-down cabin signposted "Ignorance" and "Sloth", and a Biblical scene of the gleaners Ruth and Boaz.

Selected culture biography -

Elvis Presley (1935–1977) was an American singer and one of the most important figures of 20th-century popular culture. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 13. He began his career there in 1954 and became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of television appearances and chart-topping records during the late 1950s. Conscripted in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. In 1968, after seven years away from the stage, he returned to live performance in a celebrated comeback television special that led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of profitable tours. In 1973 Presley staged the first concert broadcast globally via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii, seen by around 1.5 billion viewers. Prescription drug abuse severely affected his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 from cardiac arrest. With his versatile voice and unusually wide success encompassing many genres, Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music. Nominated for 14 competitive Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame

Selected location -

Ann Arbor is the seventh largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan, with a population of 114,024 as of the 2000 census, of which 36,892 (32%) are college or graduate students.

The city's economy is currently dominated by education, high tech, and biotechnology. Average home prices and property taxes are well above the state and national medians. The city is also known for its political liberalism and its large number of restaurants and performance venues.

Ann Arbor was founded in January 1824 by John Allen and Elisha Rumsey, both of whom were land speculators. There are various accounts concerning the origin of the settlement's name; one states that Allen and Rumsey decided to name it "Annarbour" for their spouses, both named Ann, and for the stands of burr oak in the 640 acres (260 ha) of land they had purchased for $800 from the federal government. The regional Native Americans named the settlement Kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allen's saw mill.

The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of speculators, set aside 40 acres (16 ha) of undeveloped land and offered it to the State of Michigan as the site of the state capital, but lost the bid to Lansing. In 1837, the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of Michigan, forever linking Ann Arbor and its history with the university.

Selected quote -

Anniversaries for November 20

• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee. The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.
• 1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.
• 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the blockade of the Caribbean nation.

Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -

A Southern Barbecue, 1887, by Horace Bradley

Barbecue is a tradition often considered a quintessential part of American culture, especially the Southern United States. (Full article...)

Selected panorama -

Portland Night panorama

Portland at night

More did you know? -

• ... that the first United States postage stamp that depicted a space vehicle (pictured) was issued in 1948?
• ... that the Federalists of New England did not support the War of 1812, so Captain Oliver Filley of Connecticut, who built the Oliver Filley House, commanded 40 militiamen under state control?
• ... that National Labor Relations Board Chief Economist David J. Saposs was accused of being a Communist, and Congress defunded his position and division in October 1940?

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