The Brion McClanahan Author & Historian Blog

A listener asked if I thought Ron DeSantis was wrong about Alexander Hamilton. Most people are wrong about Alexander Hamilton, particularly those who consider him to be the most important American in the founding generation. He was certainly driven, intelligent, and patriotic, but he was also a duplicitous liar who laid the foundation for the destruction of the federal republic established during the American War …more

Yesterday was Memorial Day. Most Americans don’t know three facts about the holiday: 1. It originated in the South to honor Confederate (and Union) dead. 2. The day became an officially recognized holiday because GAR commander John Logan copied the Southern event in 1868. 3. John Logan helped push through the legislation that prohibited blacks from living in Illinois in 1853. In other words, the …more

Nikole Hannah-Jones is clearly a “neo-Confederate.” Why? Because she had the audacity to claim that the War wasn’t fought to end slavery. Gasp! You can almost hear the head of every righteous cause mythologist exploding. How dare this faux historian/journalist claim that the War was not about slavery. And she not only said it, she TRIPLED DOWN on the assertion, meaning she really believes it. …more

The left wants more “democracy.” You see, they think more “democracy” means better government. But what does that term mean, and more importantly, what if more “democracy” meant worse government? Calhoun certainly thought it would lead to that, but you have to understand how he defined “democracy.” To most eighteenth century Europeans–democracy didn’t exist anywhere else–democracy was the opposite of hereditary aristocracy and monarchy. In …more

During the 2020 Summer of Love, progressives were orgiastic about tearing down traditional American society. The low hanging fruit had always been Confederate history. 2020 was just a continuation of 2015 and 2017. Of course, no one could identify how a school named for Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley affected police officers in Minnesota, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the woke …more

While most American conservatives have embraced “Let’s Go Brandon!” the problems of executive abuse run deeper than the drooler in chief. Real American conservatives should have been chanting “Let’s Go Brandon” to virtually every president over the last one hundred years. Not even the “conservative” Reagan should get a pass, but he does. In fact, you could say that most American presidents should have been …more

The recent leak of the potential reversal of Roe v. Wade has the left going nuts and predicting the apocalypse. It’s pure stupidity. On the other hand, as Michael Boldin at the Tenth Amendment Center likes to point out, it’s usually “constitutional conservatives” that have the hardest time coming to grips with real federalism. They want nationalism as much as the next Yankee. But I …more

I’m constantly amazed at how many Americans are perplexed by the South. It is the curious specimen that must be viewed under microscope. The curiosity that just doesn’t mesh with American norms. John C. Calhoun, according to a recent biography, is an “American heretic,” as if the entire South was heretical. Hillary Clinton certainly let the cat out of the bag when she called Trump …more

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is currently on trail for being an “insurrectionist.” A federal judge allowed Greene to stand trial in State court in an effort to have her removed from the November ballot for violating the 14th Amendment. There are several legal problems with this line of thinking, as legal scholar Jonathan Turley recently pointed out in a piece on his website. Greene is …more