Photograph of Michael Lind wearing a blazer and tie.

Michael Lind on Reviving Democracy

To fix things, we must acknowledge the nature of the problem.
Silhouetted soldiers with guns in the street at night

The Imperial History of US Policing: An Interview with Stuart Schrader

Dan Berger interviews Stuart Schrader about his new book on US imperialism.
Statue of Liberty melting.

The Last Time Democracy Almost Died

By examining the upheaval of the nineteen-thirties, we can recognize similarities between today and democracy's last near-death experience.
Congress in session.
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Why Impeachment Was the Answer to 17th-Century Tyranny

Charles I was charged with high treason, waging war against his people and conspiring to deprive them of their rights and liberties.

This Is Not the Senate the Framers Imagined

The Constitution originally provided for the selection of senators by state legislatures, but the 17th Amendment changed that, and with it, the Senate itself.

Ronald Reagan’s “October Surprise” Plot Was Real After All

A batch of quietly released documents confirms what many have long suspected.
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Jimmy Carter and The Myth That Gave the Iowa Caucuses Their Political Power

What does winning in Iowa really mean?
Edmund G. Ross.

Mike Pence’s Impeachment Hero Is a Corrupt 19th Century Politician

An historian debunks the vice president’s op-ed.

Ike's Military-Industrial Complex, Six Decades Later

As Eisenhower predicted, there is no balance left, as U.S. policy is reduced to who we threaten, bomb, or occupy next.
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Presidents Madison and Trump Did the Same Thing — but Trump Got Impeached

Why criminalizing political opposition can be dangerous.

A Meditation on Natural Light and the Use of Fire in United States Slavery

Responding to “Race and the Paradoxes of the Night,” by Celeste Henery.

They Wanted to Remake the World; Instead We Got President Trump

Andrew Bacevich makes the case that America’s elites wasted the promise of the post-Cold War era.

The Forgotten Failures of the Great Society

A review of "Great Society: A New History," by Amity Shlaes.

The Radicalism of Randolph Bourne

Bourne’s affinity with outsiders drove his vision of making North America a united states of communities. His writings have become more relevant than ever.

America Is Now the Divided Republic the Framers Feared

John Adams worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties … is to be dreaded as the great political evil.”

Putting Women Back Where They Belong: In Federalism and the U.S. History Survey

Looking to the local level showcases how women claimed their rights in Early America.
Portrait photograph of Daniel Bell sitting on a chair

The Homeless Radical

Daniel Bell was the prophet of a failed centrism. By the end of his life, he was revisiting the leftism of his youth.

Madison’s Notes Don’t Mean What Everyone Says They Mean

The Founding Father’s account of the Constitutional Convention includes a famous conversation about causes for impeachment.
Lithograph replacing Andrew Johnson with Trump giving a political speech from a train.

Trump's not Richard Nixon. He's Andrew Johnson.

Betrayal. Paranoia. Cowardice. We've been here before.

Historians' Statement on the Impeachment of President Trump

Over 1000 historians have signed this statement condemning President Trump's actions.
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"No" on Impeachment Unites Today's GOP. In the 1950s, a Renegade Dared to Break Ranks

Breaking with party unity can be costly. In the 1950's, Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine faced backlash after she condemned McCarthy, a fellow Republican.

The Framers’ Answers to Three Myths About Impeachment

Three misunderstood aspects of our governmental system, and the truth pulled directly from the Federalist Papers

Republicans Defending Trump on Impeachment Should Fear the Judgment of History

For Nixon stalwarts on the House Judiciary Committee, defending the President became an inalterable epitaph.

‘Lock Me Up’: The Last Man to be Arrested for Defying Congress During an Investigation

In 1935, the case went to the Supreme Court, which upheld the Senate’s power to jail a recalcitrant aviation industry lawyer.

The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset

More than simple racism, the destructive premise at the core of the American settler narrative is that freedom is built upon violent elimination.

Elections in Colonial America Were Huge, Booze-Fueled Parties

From rum to cakes to rowdy parades, election day was a time for gathering and celebration.
Bill Barr.
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What Attorney General Barr Gets Wrong About the American Revolution

The revolutionaries were fighting against arbitrary power and for checks and balances.
Trump with hands folded and eyes closed, as if in prayer.
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Explaining the Bond Between Trump and White Evangelicals

It's all about an agenda — and it's nothing new.
Andrew Johnson

Making Impeachment Matter

Democrats need to face up to their constitutional duty without fear.

An Unfinished Revolution

A new three-part PBS documentary explores the failure of Reconstruction and the Redemption of the South.