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5 Important Historical Events That Changed Language

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Language is most certainly a living thing, and boy, has it lived through a lot. There’s no doubt that key events throughout history have not only jarred the world in extreme ways, but they have also changed the ways in which people speak. So, we searched for (and found) a few words to share that actually came about in an interesting historical way (and they are still around today). We'll give you the summary ... but our friends at Study.com will give you  the full course of these historical events , so sit back and enjoy the learning. basket case Although it’s used today as a (mostly) lighthearted way of calling someone crazy, the term  basket case  has origins shades darker. During the First World War ( Study.com's WWI history course  will give you all the  sordid  details), soldiers would call those that were severely injured “basket cases,” referring to the fact that they would have to be carried from the battlefield in a wheelbarrow or basket due to the sever

Pride Comes Before the Fall: 10 Fascinating Details About Confederate States of America You Don’t Know

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By  Larry Holzwarth  on History Collection The Confederate States of America were born in 1861 and suffered many disappointments in its short life. The Confederacy never achieved recognition by any other nation and prosecuted a war which had no formal end. The Civil War began with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, which preceded the secession of four states which were critical to the Confederacy – Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The Southern leaders who led the formation of the Confederacy were unabashed in their support of the slavery system. Its Vice-President, Alexander Stephens stated clearly that the new government formed by the seceding states rested upon “…the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is his natural and normal condition.” Both Delaware and Maryland were states in which slavery was legal but neither chose to join the Confederacy, although Maryland d

The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality

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by  Thomas J. DiLorenzo   This article appeared in the  Fall 2010 issue of   The Independent Review Contrary to popular perception, the Old West was much more peaceful than American cities are today. The real culture of violence on the frontier during the latter half of the nineteenth century sprang from the U.S. government’s policies toward the Plains Indians. The Not-So-Wild, Wild West In a thorough review of the “West was violent” literature, Bruce Benson (1998) discovered that many historians simply  assume  that violence was pervasive —even more so than in modern-day America—and then theorize about its likely causes. In addition, some authors assume that the West was very violent and then assert, as Joe Franz does, that “American violence today reflects our frontier heritage” (Franz 1969, qtd. in Benson 1998, 98). Thus, an allegedly violent and stateless society of the nineteenth century is blamed for at least some of the violence in the United States today.