AskHistorians

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It is well known that the original formulation of Coca Cola contained extract from the coca leaf and was marketed as a health tonic. How potent was it? Did it actually have appreciable medicinal properties of any kind? Could you get addicted to the stuff?	410
I'm a housewife with a toddler and a newborn baby in 1860s Minnesota, and winter has just dumped a huge pile of snow on my family. How do I keep my toddler entertained during the long, cold winter months? How do I keep my own sanity, for that matter?	393
The anachronistic "Renaissance" image of Jesus has become ubiquitous now, but how did the 7th Century Christian church picture Jesus? How did the writers who spoke about him in the Quran picture him, and were there significant differences from the Christian depiction at the time?	339
Why does every single kind of animal have a different term for a group of them? Who sat down one day and decided all of those different terms, and why did anyone else listen to them?	328
The moral "believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything" became really popular in American childrens' entertainment some time in the 20th century, but is almost nonexistent before then. Where did it come from?	125
It seems like multiple large Christian sects in colonial America considered dancing to be evil. Where did this view of dance come from? What happened to it?	102
Where does the media image of a child wearing a sailor suit and clutching a gigantic lollipop come from?	99
Lots of US states have laws against oral sex. Were these laws ever enforced? How?	90
What are some of the incidents that led to the framers of the United States Constitution including a clause against double jeopardy in the Bill of Rights?	76
There was a massive economic downturn in the United States from 1893-1897. Why was a decade dominated by financial hardship later memorialized as a gilded age?	59

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