Thanksgiving in December

On December 18, 1777, the United States celebrated its first official Thanksgiving, marking the then-recent October victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga.

Recent Posts

Against British Censorship
April 2, 2025
Paul Jacob tells the tale of Gab and Kiwi Farms.Read More »
The Trump-Tariff Question
April 1, 2025
Paul Jacob considers one free-marketer’s rethinking of our president’s chief …Read More »
How We Tear Up
March 31, 2025
Paul Jacob on what makes America . . . well, …Read More »
What’s Really at Stake in Maine
March 28, 2025
Paul Jacob on the role of anonymous donations in politics.Read More »
Seceding from Chicago
March 27, 2025
Paul Jacob on the latest separatist movement.Read More »

Term Limits (refresh for more)

What Unlimited Government Costs Us
Sharing“Olympia can’t restrain itself,” Tim Eyman wrote the other day, …
Legislators, Tramps and Thieves
SharingIn the closing days of Arkansas’s 2013 legislative session, solons …
Trying Our Souls
SharingIn Common Sense, his incredible hit pamphlet of 1776, Tom …
If This Be Blackmail…
SharingThe Republican Party now boasts of more positions of power …
Freedom in Granite
Sharing“In the past two years,” the Cato Institute announced last …

Today in Freedom

With the Acte de déchéance de l’Empereur (“Emperor’s Demise Act”) of April 2, 1814, France’s Sénat conservateur officially recognized the downfall of Napoléon I of France. The original resolution to remove the Emperor was moved on the legislative body’s floor, by Thomas Jefferson’s friend Destutt de Tracy (according to Tracy himself — official records do not name the member), and was drawn up by Charles Lambrechts. The final paragraph summarized the new reality concisely:

The Senate declares and decrees as follows: 1. Napoleon Buonaparte is cast down from the throne, and the right of succession in his family is abolished. 2. The French people and army are absolved from their oath of fidelity to him. 3. The present decree shall be transmitted to the departments and armies, and proclaimed immediately in all the quarters of the capital.

Nine days later, after attempting to put his son on the throne, Napoléon abdicated unconditionally. The Allies exiled him to Elba, which was to be the whole extent of this reign as “Emperor.”

This arrangement proved unstable, with Napoléon staging a comeback, eventually leading to more war, his defeat at Waterloo, and his exile to an island in the South Atlantic.

American author, art critic, and commentator Camille Paglia was born April 2, 1947.