Historical Miscellany

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
Gouverneur Morris (January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. A signatory to the Articles of Confederation, Morris was also an author of large sections of the Constitution of the United States and one of its signers. He is widely credited as the author of the document’s preamble, and has been called the “Penman of the Constitution.” In 1780, Morris’s left leg was shattered and replaced with a wooden pegleg. Morris’s public account for the loss of his leg was that it happened in a carriage accident, but there is evidence that this was a false story concocted to cover for a dalliance with a woman, during which he jumped from a window to escape a jealous husband. Morris was well-known throughout much of his life for having many affairs, with both married and unmarried women, and he recorded many of these adventures and misadventures in his diary.

Gouverneur Morris (January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a native of New York City who represented Pennsylvania in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. A signatory to the Articles of Confederation, Morris was also an author of large sections of the Constitution of the United States and one of its signers. He is widely credited as the author of the document’s preamble, and has been called the “Penman of the Constitution.”

In 1780, Morris’s left leg was shattered and replaced with a wooden pegleg. Morris’s public account for the loss of his leg was that it happened in a carriage accident, but there is evidence that this was a false story concocted to cover for a dalliance with a woman, during which he jumped from a window to escape a jealous husband. Morris was well-known throughout much of his life for having many affairs, with both married and unmarried women, and he recorded many of these adventures and misadventures in his diary.

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)

historicalmatters:

Top: Helmets worn by Carthaginian soldiers from the first Punic war found off the coast of Sicily.

Bottom: The capture of the Carthaginian fleet by the Romans during the First Punic War. Roman soldiers are walking across the corvus of their fleet to board and attack a Carthaginian ship.

The Punic wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage lasting from 264-146 BCE. Rome came away the victor in every war. The first war was fought from 264-241 BCE, the second from 218-201, and the third from 149-146. The second war is often the most memorable due to the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca and his use of Elephants across the Alps to wage war on Rome.


Tiberius was one of Rome’s greatest generals, conquering Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and temporarily Germania, laying the foundations for the northern frontier. But he came to be remembered as a dark, reclusive, and sombre ruler who never really desired to be emperor; Pliny the Elder called him tristissimus hominum, “the gloomiest of men.”

In 26, Tiberius retired to the Isle of Capri to live in his palace, Villa Jovis. At least according to Suetonius, this villa is the place where Tiberius engaged in wild debauchery. Legend has it that Tiberius ordered disobedient servants and unwelcome guests to be thrown off the cliff to a watery demise.