AskHistorians

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Marbury v. Madison established the Supreme Court's ability to review the Constitutionality of laws in 1803, 15 years after ratification. What had its role been up to that point? Did any Founders comment on this role? Did it reflect how any other country operated, or was it something new?	2
As the 1930s unfolded with the major western powers entrenched in a deep, painful economic depression, it must have seemed that the writing was on the wall for capitalism as a failed system; how were the stewards of the major economies able to escape that fate? What went right?	2
How much credit did Winfield Scott receive for the successful 'Anaconda plan' that ultimately won the Civil War for the Union?	1
Augustine argued for the elevation of the spiritual over material concerns; what made this abstract argument so persuasive in late antiquity?	1
it's been suggested that every Roman emperor between Augustus and Vespasian was murdered or assassinated; how much impact did this have on the aristocracy/common people?	1
Class has traditionally played a larger role in European politics than in the US; there were significant efforts to use class as a unifying force in America from the late 19th century on, why weren't these efforts successful when compared to Europe?	1
Eleanor of Aquitaine was famously part of both the French and English royal courts (and even went on crusade), and her life story seems to make her a natural fit for the courtly love stories that were all the rage of the Middle Ages. Did she have lasting impact in both cultures, or just England?	1
How did Gandhi come to the strategy of non-violent resistance? Did he draw inspiration from any historical antecedents?	1
I've seen this claimed before and was curious to its veracity: was George Washington the richest man in the thirteen colonies? How would his be determined?	1
Did any historians suggest that the emperor Claudius played up his stammer in order to seem non-threatening to potential rivals before Robert Graves wrote I, Claudius?	1

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