AskHistorians

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In Ken Burn's The War, an American WWII Veteran recounts a story of how a captured German POW was very knowledgeable of his small city in Connecticut because before he went to the front, he was "in training for the administration of the territories". What do we know about Nazi plans for America?	3896
In the 1860 Census, Abraham Lincoln's household reported having two young teenagers, an M. Johnson and Phillip Dinkell, as residents in addition to the Lincoln family. Who were they?	331
Russia abolished serfdom in 1861. Conceivably, there were many former serfs who were old and still living when the Soviet Union established itself in the 1920s and 30s. Do we have any reflections or memoirs from these people reflecting the vast changes they saw?	245
Jefferson Davis preached against secession at multiple points during the years leading up to the Civil War, and called the day he had heard of his state's secession the saddest day of his life. Why then, was Davis chosen to be Confederate President?	168
It is often said that the Confederate Army under Robert E. Lee kidnapped free black farmers in Pennsylvania ahead of the Battle of Gettysburg and shipped them into the South. What is the veracity of this? How many black farmers were kidnapped and what do we know of their experiences?	114
Almost all of the cities with the highest homicide rates in the world (46 out of the top 50) are in countries in the Western Hemisphere (Mexico, the US, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, etc). What factors led to such a disproportionate murder rate in the Americas? Has it always been like this?	99
In 1929, the modern $50 bill was finalized with Ulysses S. Grant's portrait. This was still a time of widespread Lost Cause ideology. Was there any widespread southern opposition to Grant on the bill?	85
In 12 Years a Slave, a white man who has become financially destitute due to his alcoholism is shown being forced to live and work with black slaves on a cotton plantation as a consequence of his fall from grace. How common was such a punishment, and did it at all undermine southern white supremacy?	60
Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Belarus were the only two republics of the USSR that were given independent seats in the UN General Assembly after 1945. Did either delegation ever diplomatically distinguish itself in any major way in the General Assembly?	39
Andrew Jackson adopted a Creek Indian orphan, Lyncoya, raising him as a son and hoped for him to enter West Point as an officer. Was Lyncoya's existence public knowledge, and was Jackson publicly criticized for raising an Indian child in this manner as if he were white?	27

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