When America Was a Lady
Most appropriately for a nation founded on philosophical aspirations, an early name for the United States came out of a witty flaunting of British authority. Columbia lends its name to everything from the U.S. Capitol – the District of Columbia – to the oldest college in New York and many counties and towns across the nation. Have you ever wondered why? Columbia teaching John Bull [Great Britain] his new lesson c. War of 1812 Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. In the early 18th century, the publication of parliamentary debates was illegal throughout the British Empire. But the demand for such reports – especially in the colonies – was such that inventive journalists determined to find a way to publish the accounts of such debates. In order to skirt the law, the pioneering London periodical, The Gentleman’s Magazine , published the “fictional” Reports of the Debates of the Senate of Lilliput, drawing place names from Jonathan Sw...