American journalist and satirist H. L. Mencken is misquoted as saying1 “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” Regardless of who said it or the exact wording of the quote, the statement is...

The Pilgrims did not have to worry about visa problems. The first Continental Congress did not fret about their hotel key-cards malfunctioning. Franklin never wrote about electricity bills. Americans in the Civil War at least did not...