Washington, D.C., is home to the most influential power brokers in the world. But how did we come to call D.C.-a place one contemporary observer called a mere swamp "producing nothing except myriads of toads and frogs (of enormou...

The Mexican War introduced vast new territories into the United States, among them California and the present-day Southwest. When gold was discovered in California in the great Gold Rush of 1849, the population swelled, and settlers p...

This “fascinating” (Chicago Tribune), “lively” (The New York Times) history tells how the First Congress and the Washington administration created one of the most productive and far-reaching governments in American history—�...