John Adams

Saturday

Jane Stannus

Time for Americans to give tea a second chance

“Last night,” John Adams confided in his diary on December 17, 1773, just after the Boston Tea Party, “3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea... This is the most magnificent Movement of all. There is a Dignity, a Majesty, a Sublimity, in this last Effort of the Patriots, that I greatly admire.” Some things – like hyperbole and random capitalization – never seem to go out of style in American politics. Tea has been less fortunate. Once the most beloved non-alcoholic beverage in the 13 colonies, it fell so low in America’s regard, as Emily Dickinson would say, we heard it hit the ground. Or the water, in the case of the Boston bunfight.

Adams
constitution
Marc Oestreich

The republic’s public life started with dinner

The Constitution was signed on a Monday. That much everyone knows. What the official record tends to skip is what happened right afterward. Forty-two men – some of them barely on speaking terms, three of them having refused to sign at all – stepped out of the Pennsylvania State House into the thin September air. Their wigs were damp from the long, sticky summer. Instead of heading back to their lodgings at the Indian Queen or Mrs. Marshall’s boarding house, they turned south on Chestnut, walked a couple of blocks, and went to City Tavern. At the tavern, on the corner of Second and Walnut, they sat down and ate together.

Friday

Juan P. Villasmil

How Trump’s Mexico and Canada tariffs could change trade history

President Donald Trump has set Saturday as the deadline to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports. From the Oval Office earlier this week, Trump explained that the move aims to push the US’s neighbors to take swift action to curtail illegal immigration and fentanyl, as well as to address growing trade deficits. The tariffs may or may not include oil, with Trump saying Thursday that determinations were still being made. Following Trump’s tariff feud with Colombian president Gustavo Petro Sunday, with the Trump forcing his Colombian counterpart to welcome deportees, his latest move signifies an expansion of his revamped “FAFO” foreign policy.

Friday

Harry Mount

Their Majesties the Presidents

For anyone who’s a little bit worried about the current state of the Union, Andrew Gimson’s book is a godsend. Donald Trump is often called the 45th president, but he’s actually the 44th — Grover Cleveland, president from 1885- 89 and 1893-97, is counted as the 22nd and the 24th. Among his 43 predecessors, you’ll find plenty of drunks, philanderers and incompetents. Suddenly, the teetotal President doesn’t look so bad after all. Gimson is a British journalist, but don’t let that put American readers off. He’s worked for the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator and knows politics well. He previously wrote books about the 40 British monarchs since 1066, the 55 British prime ministers since 1721 and a biography of Boris Johnson.

presidents