Power

Americans disparaged the British as arsonists. But the rebels fought with fire too.

Remembering the mixed reception is key to understanding the complexities of our history and the persistence of racism today.

The shadow of Samuel Adams, a crafty and government-wary revolutionary, lingers over the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Reflecting on Pat Buchanan's legacy.

By removing Reps. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy would remove obstacles to his agenda.

A new history of American politics examines the past and future of political realignments.

Always a dealmaker, then-senator LBJ negotiated with segregationists to pass a bill that cautiously advanced racial equality.

The machine breaks down: A brief history of Tammany Hall.

Whole states of the Union owe their very existence to nothing more nation-building than 19th-Century pols’ wanting to add new senators to one side of the aisle.

In practice, aggressive congressional investigations of the intelligence community require consistent levels of public support.

Religious conservatives see “anti-eugenic” laws as the most promising path to establish a federal ban on abortion.

Conservative “populism” has never been about egalitarianism, but about mobilizing support for traditional hierarchies.

A new history of the environmental movement places too much emphasis on famous figures like Rachel Carson and shies away from confronting failures.

The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess.

The House speaker fight was eerily reminiscent of 1923 — but the differences between the two will drive what comes next.

Political scientist Richard Bensel explains the feedback loops between policy commitments of political elites and the regional distribution of political power.

The Framers would have never tolerated debt-limit brinkmanship. It’s time to put this terrible idea on trial.

One hundred years ago, a strong leader brought House rebels to the table to elect a speaker. Can McCarthy do the same?

The battle is worth winning for Kevin McCarthy — and could reshape the Republican Party.

A look at socialism’s far-reaching influence on American thought.

Jedediah Purdy's new book examines why the U.S. has continuously failed to qualify as a system defined by popular rule.

The history of speakership contests underscores the corner Kevin McCarthy is painted into and the corner any Republican House leader is likely to face.

What we fight about when we fight about schools.

Kevin McCarthy's struggling bid to win the speakership has nothing on the epic 1856 contest that pitted abolitionists against proslavery members of Congress.

Video testimony and evidence presented by the House Select Committee to recommend criminal prosecution of Donald Trump.

Largely forgotten today, Albion W. Tourgée’s legislation could have prevented Moore v. Harper.

An overhyped new paradigm proved to be a slogan without a movement.

The FBI’s first director built the agency around some of his own worst instincts.

A new book argues that the American right emerged out of a backlash to multiracial democracy following the Civil War.

A new book traces the long history of cloaking racism in the language of resistance to an overbearing federal government.