Puritanism[i] in America
©2026 Victor R. Claveau, MJ The term Puritan began as an epithet hurled at church reformers in England, whom others perceived as annoyingly precise, exacting, and meddlesome in the practice of their faith. Puritans were predestinarian Calvinist dedicated to living according to “primitive” scriptural rules.[ii] Timeline 1608 Separatist Pilgrims[iii] flee England for Holland. 1620-1640 The Great […]
Puritanism in America
©2026 Victor R. Claveau, MJ I. Origins and Historical Context The term Puritan originated in late 16th-century England as a term of reproach directed at reform-minded Protestants who sought to “purify” the Church of England from what they perceived as lingering Catholic elements. These reformers were heavily influenced by the theology of John Calvin and […]
Who was the first to coin the term “The United States of America”?
On January 2, 1776, seven months before the Declaration of Independence Stephen Moylan, an acting secretary to General George Washington, spells it out, “I should like vastly to go with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain” to seek foreign assistance for the cause.” Stephen Moylan was writing this letter […]
February is Black History Month –
Victor R. Claveau, MJ. Each Year Congress authorizes and the president signs an executive order honoring the contributions of various groups; African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans and women. February is Black History Month, March is Women’s History Month, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month will last from Monday, September 15, […]
CATHOLICS AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The year 1773, memorable in Church annals for the suppression of the Society of Jesus, is famous in America for the Boston Tea Party. When the Revolution broke out in 1775, it became necessary to conciliate the Catholics. There was no lack of patriotism among them. Influenced by men like Charles Carroll in the South […]
Catholic History in America
The very first hospital in the New World was founded in 1580 in Mexico and dedicated to St. Martin de Porres, the patron of hospitality to the afflicted and distressed. A Catholic made the first settlement in New England, and a Catholic conducted the first religious services there. The first converts in New England were […]
Abraham Lincoln, letter to Joshua Speed, August 24, 1855
“I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We […]
The Ursuline Convent Riot
NOTE: Enjoy this excerpt from The American Daily Reader, by CatholicVote president Brian Burch and Emily Stimpson Chapman. To order the complete volume, visit the CatholicVote store today! Rampant bigotry towards Irish Catholics was brewing in 1834 Boston, and the Ursuline convent and school in Charlestown, Massachusetts, was the unfortunate victim. After wild rumors of dungeons, torture chambers, […]
The Moral Case for the Atomic Bombing of Japan
John Carpenter – August 8th, 2025 The moral choice in war is ascertained by doing a crude calculus: Of the available options, which kills the fewest? The option of Japan suddenly embracing peace is an illusion. The brutal calculation was: Do we kill so many people by dropping atomic bombs or so many more by invading? […]
The Lincoln Plot
Victor R. Claveau, MJ Abraham Lincoln once said: “History is not history unless it is the truth.” New York Herald; Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865–Assassination; Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872– assassination attempts. Top half of the first newspaper to report the news of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. On the left is a list of the secondary headlines. In 1922, […]