Phillip W. Magness, Author at Phillip W. Magness

Lincoln & Colonization: understanding the documents issue

Contrary to the recent insinuations otherwise, the colonization efforts Abraham Lincoln are reasonably well documented. We know the approximate dates of most of his active colonization experiments during the Civil War years. We have a rough time frame for several dozen recollected conversations on the topic that were recorded by Lincoln’s contemporaries. And we have […]

Lincoln & Colonization: understanding the documents issue Read More »

Presidential Survey – Rating the Middle of the Pack

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

Last week I took part in a President’s Day Survey to rate the historical performance of the previous occupants of the White House. I elaborated briefly upon my choices for the top and the bottom of the list, though my findings were also somewhat atypical for such surveys – including historians of both the left and

Presidential Survey – Rating the Middle of the Pack Read More »

When a 3-time Lincoln Prize winner engages in professional misconduct…

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

Allen Guelzo of Gettysburg College is presently engaged in a willfully mendacious portrayal of my ongoing research into Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War era colonization programs. This is not a lightly proffered criticism, but it is one I make note of to differentiate it from the honest interpretive disagreements that historians often have when considering a

When a 3-time Lincoln Prize winner engages in professional misconduct… Read More »

Rating the Presidents

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

In commemoration of President’s Day, I was recently asked to participate in a historians’ survey of presidential rankings sponsored by my friends at Franklin’s Opus. The cumulative results may be found at the link and are fairly unique for surveys of this type in that they are significantly more introspective than the typical surveys of

Rating the Presidents Read More »

Babies cause low wages and unemployment, Keynes Edition

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

Earlier this week Paul Krugman ventured into the history of economic thought as part of his longstanding blog crusade against Austrian business cycle theory. The post presents Krugman’s own truncated synopsis of another anonymous blogger’s not particularly dispassionate summary of what an incomplete review of the secondary literature has to say on Ludwig von Mises’ early reactions to the

Babies cause low wages and unemployment, Keynes Edition Read More »

In search of Spooner’s lost papers

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

When Lysander Spooner died in 1887 he left behind a body of books, pamphlets, essays, and newspaper columns covering almost half a century. But he also left something more, at least according to reports at the time. One such example comes from the author of his primary eulogy and, in many ways, intellectual heir Benjamin

In search of Spooner’s lost papers Read More »

Lysander Spooner in 1885: Abolish the Police!

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

It should not come as a surprise, but Lysander Spooner opposed the establishment of a “professional” police force in Boston and espoused its abolition in a speech on April 17, 1885. As reported in the Boston Investigator:

Lysander Spooner in 1885: Abolish the Police! Read More »

A brief guide to colonization documents omitted from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

For more than half a century the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler, has been the standard go-to volume for a compendium of known documents authored by Abraham Lincoln. As might be expected with any collection that attempts to aggregate the writings of a prolific political figure, many documents were overlooked

A brief guide to colonization documents omitted from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln Read More »

Thaddeus Stevens, Colonizationist?

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

Thaddeus Stevens has enjoyed something of an academic as well as popular revival in recent years, becoming known as something of an archetype of that all-too-rare character in mid 19th century American politics: a racial egalitarian. He was also an abolitionist of some note and, most famously, the de facto leader of the radicals

Thaddeus Stevens, Colonizationist? Read More »

A Canadian in Dallas reflects on the assassination of Kennedy

Uncategorized / Phillip W. Magness

The following account of Dallas during the assassination of JFK was written by my grandfather George Ikeson some 50 years ago this week. He had moved to Dallas from Canada only a few months prior and described the shock of the scene for the Toronto Daily Sun.

A Canadian in Dallas reflects on the assassination of Kennedy Read More »

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31