Wendy McElroy

In the fall of 1787, the call went out: Each of the 13 states assembled special conventions to consider ratification of a proposed Constitution of the United States. Without ratification by nine conventions, the Constitution would flounder: America would be a league of states, not one nation. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the states – voting as states – had unanimously approved the Constitution. But individual delegates had...

By the end of World War I, Britain had promised control of Palestine to both Arabs and Jews. Each of these peoples claimed a longstanding right to the same piece of land, and violence was inevitable. This presentation examines how and why this magical land has become a virtual war zone.

This rich culture of East Africa—known in the Bible as Abyssinia—claims descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Under a Marxist regime, however, this ancient people has suffered from famine and genocide. This presentation chronicles the heartbreak of Ethiopia, which mirrors many of the crises besieging the third world countries of Africa.

After WWII, Korea was divided in half at the 38th parallel. To the north were the Communists; to the south were the United Nations peacekeeping forces. In June 1950, North Korean soldiers backed by Soviet-built tanks poured across the parallel. The Korean conflict became on of the first expressions of the Cold War between Russia and America. It was an attempt to balance the power that had been thrown so badly out of alignment by WWII. But Korea would...

Civil Disobedience is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. In it, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican—American War. Edited by...