Painting of Jedidiah Morse with the Illuminati pyramid symbol over one eye.

Why the Founding Generation Fell So Hard for the Illuminati Story

They looked at France and said: “Make it make sense.”
A teenage boy is vaccinated against smallpox by a school doctor and a county health nurse, 1938.

The U.S. Has Had 'Vaccine Passports' Before—And They Worked

History shows that the benefits of such a system can extend far beyond the venues into which such a passport would grant admission .
Trump supporters standing outside of the U.S. Capitol building.
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What Pro-Trump Insurrectionists Share — and Don’t — With the American Revolution

Some supporters of the violent mob scene at the Capitol proclaimed it was the beginning of a “Second American Revolution.”
New Yorkers including Hasidic Jews walk by an outdoor tent erected as a waiting area for an urgent care clinic.
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Deep Political Fissures May Worsen the Coronavirus Outbreak

If partisans see problems and potential solutions through a political lens, it will weaken our response.
Map of 1796 presidential election electoral votes by state.
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The Founders Knew That Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections was Dangerous

The origins of our efforts to keep foreign countries out of our elections.

How Media was Social in the 1790s

What would the French Revolution have looked like on Twitter?
Title page of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense."
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Anonymous Criticism Helped Make America Great

Trump’s critic is utilizing a practice employed by many of the Founding Fathers to protect truth from power.

The Attention Economy of the American Revolution

How Twitter bots help us understand the founding era.
John Adams
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Why Trump’s Assault on NBC and “Fake News” Threatens Freedom of the Press

Restricting the press backfires politically.