askhistorians

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Do we know FDR's personal thoughts on the internment of Japanese-Americans? Is there any sign he recognized it as a betrayal of American values?	48
Why do the Olympics have "Team Great Britain" but the FIFA World Cup and most other international sports competitions have separate teams for England, Scotland, and Wales?	45
Would Norman nobles during The Anarchy in England (1138-1155) have spoken English? When did the transition to English occur?	40
Would a king in Britain in 528 actually be impressed that a time-traveler could predict a solar eclipse, as Mark Twain depicted, or would they say, "Yeah, the court astrologer told us there was one coming up"?	39
The Cadfael Chronicles are about a 12th century English monk who is the abbey herbalist and is depicted as effective at his job. Would an herbalist in England at that time have anything that actually works?	39
Porridge and gruel were one of the main staples along with bread in the European diet for millennia. Roman and medieval peasants would often have savory gruel for lunch and dinner. But today they seem much more marginal in Western Europe, other than hot breakfast cereal. Why did they decline?	39
New Jersey ratified the 13th Amendment to the U.S. constitution (abolishing slavery) on Jan. 23, 1866 after initially rejecting it March 16, 1865. Why did they initially reject it?	37
Is there a reason "tis" was supplanted by "it's" and "twas" died out in most dialects of English? Some sound change? Or just something that happened?	37
English seems very unusual among languages that use the Latin alphabet in that it has no diacritical marks for letters for native words. Is there are historic reason why this happened in English and not in most other languages?	34
Raphael depicted the wedding of Jesus's mother with a bearded man in ceremonial dress officiating as the groom puts a ring on the bride's finger. Who would have presided over a Jewish wedding in that era? What would the ceremony be like?	34

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