The Declaration Heard Around the World

The declaration's words and sentiments have inspired nations and movements around the world.

What Could Go Wrong for Trump on July 4th? In 1970, Protests and Tear Gas Marred the Day.

"Honor America Day" was designed to showcase support for President Nixon at a time of bitter division.
U.S. Constitution

The President Who Would Not Be King

Executive power and the Constitution.
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The Constitutional Revolution a Century Ago That Is Shaping the 2020 Election

And why we need another one.
Senators Joseph McCarthy and Kenneth Wherry.

Democracy and Misinformation

The Cold War and today.

When Joe Biden Collaborated With Segregationists

The candidate’s years as an anti-busing crusader cannot be forgotten—or readily forgiven.

Jill Lepore on Early American Ideas of Nationalism

"Inevitably, the age of national bootblacks and national oyster houses and national blacksmiths produced national history books."

Will Support Grow for Impeaching Trump? Data on Nixon Offers a Clue.

The shift in attitudes about Nixon's impeachment suggests that Congress' actions can shape public opinion.

What Two Crucial Words in the Constitution Actually Mean

I reviewed publications from the founding era, and discovered that “executive power” doesn’t imply what most scholars thought.
Painting by Titus Kaphar entitled "Page 4 of Jefferson’s ‘Farm Book"

How Proslavery Was the Constitution?

A review of a book by Sean Wilentz's "No Property in Man," which argues that the document is full of anti-slavery language.
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A Brief History of the Theory Trump and Barr Use to Resist Congressional Oversight

Is Trump's power as president becoming just what the Founders feared?

Republicans and Democrats Are Describing Two Different Constitutions

Conservatives and liberals both cite the nation’s charter, but they’re not talking about the same parts of it.
Illustration of Peurifoy and others attempting to find homosexuals within the federal government.

The Homophobic Hysteria of the Lavender Scare

Despite a thriving queer community in Washington, the 1950s State Department fired gay and lesbian workers en masse.

The Surprising Origins of 'Medicare for All'

It was the original idea behind Medicare itself.

The Hidden Power Behind D-Day

Admiral William D. Leahy was instrumental in bringing the Allies together to agree upon the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.

The Making of the Military-Intellectual Complex

Why is U.S. foreign policy dominated by an unelected, often reckless cohort of “the best and the brightest”?

Fear and Loathing of the Green New Deal

What the backlash to the emergency legislation reveals about the age-old pathologies of the right.

Surrender in the American Civil War

During the Civil War, surrendering was an honorable way of accepting defeat — under the right circumstances.

A Parade of Imperial Presidencies

Trump is just the latest in a long line of executives to stiff-arm the Constitution and ignore congressional powers.

A National Debate Over Politics, Principles and Impeachment — in 1868

Was the impeachment of Andrew Johnson a matter of national principles? Or an affair of pragmatic politics?

Julius Scott’s Epic About Black Resistance in the Age of Revolution

"The Common Wind" covers the radical world of black mariners, rebels, and runaways banding together to realize their freedom.

The Political Odyssey of Sean Wilentz

How one of America's original Bernie Bros became an outspoken critic of the left.
Demonstrators hold a painting of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump outside a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona, August 22, 2017.

Democracy and Its Discontents

A consideration of four recent books that attempt to contend with the rise of Trumpism at home and abroad.
A man putting a ballot into a ballot box during a 1938 Arkansas ballot referendum.

How to Change Policy Without Politicians

As Arkansas politics becomes more conservative, voters are using the ballot for progressive ends.

Joe Biden's Audacity of Grief

On the mournful threads connecting his half-century in politics.

Inside the Long War to Protect Plastic

Single-use plastic is clogging oceans and landfills. The plastic industry has waged a decades-long campaign to keep it selling it.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

On the danger that the US government's habit of redacting official documents poses to democracy.

An Oral History of Trump’s Bigotry

His racism and intolerance have always been in evidence; only slowly did he begin to understand how to use them to his advantage.
John Lewis Krimmel's painting, "Election Day in Philadelphia" (1815).

Mapping the First Party System

Introducing a new digital history project focused on the ways Americans voted from 1788 to 1825.

Antislavery Wasn’t Mainstream, Until It Was

After Republicans lost their first election in 1856, Democrats declared slavery opposition radical and fringe. Then came 1860.