History in Haiku
The American saga, seventeen syllables at a time

Walking from Asia / A hunter, a tribe, a clan / Into a new world. (First arrivals, c. 15,000 BC)

The Norsemen sail west / For fish, grapes, a plot of ground / Then sail east again. (Newfoundland, c. 1000 AD)

The white ships appear / The bearded ones come ashore / Who the hell are they? (Columbus, 1492)

Fever takes the young / Their parents weep, then die too / Whole peoples perish. (First contacts, 15th-19th centuries)

Gold! There will be gold! / For gentlemen to gather / In fair Virginia! (Jamestown, 1607)

No gold, no profit / No corn, no meat, no sugar / Nothing but hunger. (Virginia, 1607-24)

Torn from their homeland / Transported in misery / To toil in chains. (Slave trade, 17th-19th centuries)

A cold churning sea / A windswept peninsula / This is a refuge? (Plymouth, 1620)

We solemnly swear / As a joint body to seek / The general good. (Mayflower Compact, 1620)

Terror in the night / Blood and slaughter in the day / Horror on the land. (King Philip's War, 1670s)

Shivers and specters / Flit over hearts in Salem / And nineteen are hanged. (Witch trials, 1690s)

New lights and new hearts / New preachers from new pulpits / Awaken the world. (The Great Awakening, 1730s-40s)

The days! Oh, the days! / When the calendar is changed / Eleven go missing! (Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, 1752)

Clouds churn, thunder rolls / The kite string shudders and sends / A small spark to earth. (Ben Franklin's kite, 1752)

Victory burdens / An empire deeply in debt. / London retrenches. (Aftermath of French and Indian War, 1763)

Taxes, new taxes / That drive a free people to / Arson and riot. (Stamp Act protests, 1765)

Taunts and ice balls fly / Nervous soldiers flinch and fire / Blood moon, scarlet snow (Boston Massacre, 1770)

In angry war paint / Men board the East India ship / And toss the cargo. (Boston Tea Party, 1773)

Gruff men, frightened boys / Face off, then fire unknowing / And shatter a world. (Battle of Lexington, 1775)

A congress ponders / Then takes a heartstopping leap / To independence. (Declaration of Independence, 1776)

Whigs battle Tories / Fathers take arms against sons / A people divide. (The Revolution as civil war, 1775-83)

Franklin charms Paris / Gates batters Burgoyne, bringing / France into the war. (Battle of Saratoga, 1777)

Frozen sky, iron earth / Tattered clothes, empty bellies / Verging on defeat. (Valley Forge, 1778)

The Quaker conscience / Gets the better of profit / A century late. (Pennsylvania begins to abolish slavery, 1780)

A hesitant step / Toward a national union / With war as cement. (The Articles of Confederation, 1781)

French money and ships / American muskets and will / Bring Cornwallis down. (Battle of Yorktown, 1781)

A year of wrangling / After six years of fighting / And the deed is done. (Treaty of Paris, 1783)

A stroke of genius / To create not colonies / But fully fledged states. (Northwest Ordinance, 1787)

In victory's warmth / The glue of their common fear / Melts alarmingly. (To the Constitution, 1780s)

America stumbles / On account of selfish states / Behaving badly. (To the Constitution, 1780s)

Two men of vision / Madison and Hamilton / Quietly plot a coup. (To the Constitution, 1780s)

Delegates gather / To subvert one government / And craft another. (Constitutional Convention, 1787)

In secret debate / In Philadelphia's heat / The fifty-five wrangle. (Constitutional Convention, 1787)

They limit the states / And strengthen central power / To build a nation. (Constitutional Convention, 1787)

To secure the South / The drafters knowingly make / A devil's bargain. (Slavery in the Constitution, 1787)

They sign the charter / And send it to the people / For their yea or nay. (End of the Constitutional Convention, 1787)

The battle is joined / The Antis cry freedom's doom / But fail to persuade (Constitution ratified, 1787-88)

At Federal Hall / A federal government / Restarts the nation (The 1787 Constitution takes effect, 1789)

The Congress convenes / And Madison proposes / To guarantee rights (The Bill of Rights, 1789)

America's flame / Kindles dry forests in France / The heat cracks the earth (American ideals and the French Revolution, 1789)

To aid an ally / Or to heed self-interest / The nation must choose (The response to the wars of the French Revolution, 1790s)

Amid the conflict / Factions form, parties congeal / Old patriots weep (National politics, 1790s)

Hamilton heads up / The Federalist party / Tilting to Britain (Federalists vs. Republicans, 1790s)

Jefferson favors / And Republicans second / The fortunes of France (Federalists vs. Republicans, 1790s)

The Congress threatens / Free speech and encourages / Xenophobia (Alien and Sedition Acts, 1798)

Kentucky resolves / To refuse obedience. / Virginia does too (Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, 1798-99)

In their revulsion / The people shout 'liberty' / And elect Marse Tom (Jefferson's election, 1800)

No parties! says he / For we're Americans all / And stand together (Jefferson's first inaugural address, 1801)

A cunning device / Which severs cotton from seeds / Gives bondage new life (Cotton gin introduced, 1790s and after)

The whip still slashes / The chains still burden and bruise / But the ships sail by (End of slave imports, 1808)

A Western empire / Suddenly offered for sale / Louisiana! (Louisiana Purchase, 1803)

Jefferson worries / Do I possess the power? / Then ignores his qualms (Louisiana Purchase, 1803)

He buys it and sends / Lewis and Clark to explore / To the Pacific (Corps of Discovery, 1804-6)

Trouble with Europe / Ships and cargoes snatched at sea / By Britain and France. (US caught between Britain and France, 1803-12)

Jefferson responds / With a blanket embargo / That staggers commerce. (Embargo Act, 1807)

New England erupts / Federalists fulminate / All curse Jefferson. (Reaction to Embargo Act of 1807)

Jefferson retires / To his mountaintop mansion / To garden and muse (Monticello, 1809-1826)

Madison is next / In the line of Virginians / To take the White House (Madison become president, 1809)

War feeling rises / Anglophobia rages / Hottest in the West (The approach of the War of 1812)

Meanwhile Tecumseh / Gathers Indian allies / To drive out the whites (Tecumseh's alliance, 1811-12)

A violent earthquake / That reverses great rivers / He claims as a sign. (New Madrid earthquakes, 1811-12)

A dismal conflict / Dashing vainglorious hopes / Embarrassing all (The War of 1812)

The Capitol burned / The government driven off / The war hawks chastened (War of 1812)

Comes almost too late / The war's singular hero / Brave Old Hickory (Andrew Jackson, 1814-15)

He smites the British / At the gates of New Orleans / Salvaging honor (Battle of New Orleans, 1815)


More coming . . .