<p><span class="deck">The third in a series on TIMES OF TRIAL IN AMERICAN STATECRAFT </span></p>
<p>Old Hickory's attack on Biddle's bank had some unexpected consequences</p>
<p><span class="deck">Over 350 years a mighty pageant of history has moved through the myth-haunted valley of the “Great River of the Mountains”</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> Andrew Jackson challenged Thomas Hart Benton in a bloody frontier brawl, but they later formed a political team which left its mark on America.</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Without doubt they were Washington, who walked carefully within the Constitution, and Lincoln, who stretched it as far as he dared</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">The Corps is supposed to be tough, and is. This often confounds its enemies and sometimes irritates the nation’s other services</span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> A lonely, gallant battle fought by the designer of our flag set the stage for Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans.</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson’s right-hand man, was a master of political intrigue who let nothing block his one unwavering ambition—the Presidency. But sometimes he was too smart for his own good</span> </p>
<p>The American system of choosing a President has not worked out badly, far as it may be from the Founding Fathers’ vision of a natural aristocracy </p>
<p><span class="deck"> The revival in the nineteenth century of medieval motifs in architecture extended from villas and furniture to farmhouses and vineries</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> “It is astonishing that the murderous practice of duelling should continue so long in vogue,” said Benjamin Franklin. Yet continue it did, often with peculiarly American variations</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Presidential candidates stayed above the battle until William Jennings Bryan stumped the nation in 1896; they’ve been in the thick of it ever since</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">Declaring himself a “thorough democrat” George Caleb Bingham portrayed the American voter with an artist’s eye—and a seasoned politicians savvy</span> </p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Conjectural or speculative history can be a silly game, as in “What if the Roman legions had machine guns?” But this historian argues that to enlarge our knowledge and understanding it sometimes makes very good sense to ask …</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> One man measures his life-span against the length of recorded history and finds tidings of comfort and hope</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> The early years of our republic produced dozens of great leaders. A historian explains how men like Adams and Jefferson were selected for public office, and tells why the machinery that raised them became obsolete.</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck"> <span class="typestyle"> Banking as we’ve known it for centuries is dead, and we don’t really know the consequences of what is taking its place. A historical overview.</span> </span></p>
<p><span class="deck">On the 150th anniversary of Texan independence, we trace the fierce negotiations that brought the republic into the union.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">A year ago, we were in the midst of a presidential campaign most memorable for charges by both sides that the opponent was not hard enough, tough enough, masculine enough. That he was, in fact, a sissy. Both sides also admitted that this sort of rhetoric was deplorable. But it’s been going on since the beginning of the republic.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">The two-party system, undreamt of by the founders of the republic, has been one of its basic shaping forces ever since their time.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">An extraordinary new historical novel begins with the great political scandal of the 1970s, then visits the great political scandal of the 1820s.</span></p>
<p><span class="deck">A historian of American portraits tells how he determines whether a picture is authentic and why that authenticity matters.</span></p>
<p>Strict codes of conduct marked the relationships of early American politicians, often leading to duels, brawls, and other—sometimes fatal—violence.</p>
<p>In Florida during the 1830s, a young Indian warrior led a bold and bloody campaign against the government's plan to relocate his people west of the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>When the Palmetto State threatened to nullify federal statutes at will, President Jackson met it with tough rhetoric and a threat of force -- and postponed the Civil War for three decades.</p>
<p>Jackson had deep flaws, but he left a lasting legacy, strengthening the executive office and striving to represent as many Americans as possible.</p>
<p>The censure of Andrew Jackson for replacing his Secretary of Treasury raised the question of a president's authority to control the actions of his cabinet members.</p>
<p>Was he the era’s greatest Democrat or its elected autocrat? A hero or a scoundrel? Balancing Andrew Jackson’s legacy is a problematic exercise, complicated by his many contradictions.</p>
<p>Two hundred years ago, the conflict in which the U.S. seized the Deep South from its Native inhabitants was a turning point in American history, but it is largely forgotten today.</p>
