askhistorians

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Was George Washington looked down upon by his fellow Founding Fathers for not having a university education?	69
For Native North Americans not on the Atlantic coast, did European colonists' reputations precede their presence? And how long was the wait for inland peoples between hearing about these colonists and actually seeing one of them?	67
Nowadays, it is a trope that people give up trying to keep up-to-date with fashion after their 20s or 30s. Was this the case in 18th century Western Europe? E.g., would a French count in his 50s in 1770 have dressed differently from a French count in his 20s in the same year.	66
How did Afrikaans become a distinct language from Standard Dutch when colonial versions of, e.g., English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish did not become distinct languages, despite being introduced to their respective colonies much earlier?	64
Did Eisenhower's clearly German surname cause any Americans to question his loyalty in fighting against the Nazis?	64
In the Godfather Pt. II, is Sen. Pat Geary's anti-Italian sentiment anachronistic? I thought Italian-Americans had largely been accepted into the white American mainstream by the 1950s (when the film takes place).	63
Did English writers in Chaucer's era (late 14th c.) ever note whether or not they could understand pre-1066 texts?	63
How did Ireland's last Magdalene laundries manage to remain open until 1996? I'd think they'd already be seen as plenty archaic many years earlier. To use a pop culture event for time perspective, I find it strange that the final closure of these institutions is more recent than Kurt Cobain's death.	62
Louisiana kept a great deal of the French civil law that was in force from before its admission into the United States. Why didn't California or Texas similarly keep Mexican civil law around?	61
In 1933, on the eve of Hitler's rise to power, did any of the other major German parties have policy platforms on race and/or Jewish people, or were the Nazis truly unique on the matter? If other parties did have such platforms, what were they? (3rd attempt)	61

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