The Great Fear of 1776

Against the backdrop of the Revolution, American Indians recognized a looming threat to their very existence.

"He Lies Like a Dog": The First Effort to Impeach a President Was Led by His Own Party

Long before President Donald Trump, there was President John Tyler.

When Adding New States Helped the Republicans

DC statehood would be a modest ploy compared with the mass admission of underpopulated western territories.
Samuel Francis

The Outsider

Who was behind the "Trumpist manifesto" released twenty years before Trump became president?

American Immigration: A Century of Racism

Discussions of eugenics and other fascistic ideas in American history tend to provoke the defense that they never took root. So why do they keep flowering?

‘We May Have to Shoot Down This Aircraft’

What the chaos aboard Flight 93 on 9/11 looked like to the White House and the fighter pilots prepared to ram the plane's cockpit.

Immigration Enforcement and the U.S.-Mexico Border

A microsyllabus on the history of the U.S.-Mexico border, refugees, and deportation.

Did Social Work Kill Civil Society?

A new book makes the case.

The 40-Year War

William Barr’s long struggle against congressional oversight.

The Electoral College Was Terrible From the Start

It’s doubtful even Alexander Hamilton believed what he was selling in “Federalist No. 68.”
Gerald Ford meets with the family of Dr. Frank Olson.

From Mind Control to Murder? How a Deadly Fall Revealed the CIA’s Darkest Secrets

Frank Olson died in 1953, but it took decades for his family to get closer to the truth.
Painting of the signing of the Constitution.

The American Founders Made Sure the President Could Never Suspend Congress

Boris Johnson is suspending Parliament for five weeks. That couldn't happen in the United States.

Conservatives Say We've Abandoned Reason and Civility. The Old South Said That, Too

The ‘reasonable’ right’s persecution rhetoric echoes the Confederacy’s defense of slavery.
Political cartoon of Grover Cleveland's trade policy.

Grover Cleveland and the Democrats Who Saved Conservatism

They stood against Tammany Hall, the centralized presidency, and profligate spending. Today's Right should give them another look.
Congresswomen Omar, Pressley, Ocasio-Cortez, and Tlaib.
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The Radical Roots of ‘the Squad’

How Mickey Leland and the Congressional Black Caucus paved the way for today's progressive politics.
Black and white photo of the Libertarian Party’s 1980 presidential candidate, Ed Clark, center, with his running mate, David H. Koch.

How David Koch’s 1980 Fantasy Became America’s Current Reality

Koch poured $2 million into an embryonic Libertarian Party to buoy his run for vice president. He knew he wouldn't win—but that wasn't the point.
Cover of "Cold Warriors" book.

Before Oprah’s Book Club, there was the CIA

‘Cold Warriors’ traces how the U.S. and Soviet government used writers like George Orwell and Boris Pasternak to wage ideological battles during the Cold War.

No Refuge

When Congress gave the Secretary of Labor discretion over any immigrant “likely to become a public charge,” they weren’t expecting someone like Frances Perkins.

The Political Chaos and Unexpected Activism of the Post-Civil War Era

Charles Postel on the temperance crusade that galvanized the American women's movement.
1857 map of the United States, showing slave versus free states.

How Slavery Doomed Limited Government in America

It made it impossible to limit the size and scope of the federal government. Conservatives need to recognize that.
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What Hawaii’s Statehood Says About Inclusion in America

Conditional inclusion for "model minorities" perpetuates enduring forms of racial exclusion.

How Jamestown Abandoned a Utopian Vision and Embraced Slavery

In 1619, wealthy investors overthrew the charter that guaranteed land for everyone.
Ken Cuccinelli
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How President Trump’s New Immigration Rule Could Erode the Social Safety Net

The new rule dramatically expands the meaning of public charge.
Mugshot of Bernard L. Barker.
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Want to Know Why Some Hispanics Support Donald Trump? Ask Richard Nixon.

Nixon created the blend of Republicanism that remains attractive to a segment of Hispanic voters.
Barry Goldwater with his finger to his lips sushing the audience.
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How Never-Trump Republicans Went Extinct

Shared enemies and ideology matter more than Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric.

How the Republican Majority Emerged

Fifty years after the Republican Party hit upon a winning formula, President Trump is putting it at risk.

The Most Dangerous American Idea

No belief in the history of the US has been more threatening to democracy than the certainty that only white people are fit for self-government.
Revolutionary War reenactment.

The Second-Amendment Case for Gun Control

It's a myth that the Founders opposed the regulation of deadly weapons.

How a Historian Uncovered Ronald Reagan’s Racist Remarks to Richard Nixon

In a taped call with Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan described the African delegates to the United Nations in luridly racist terms.

White Power

A review of two recent books about white paramilitarism in the wake of the Cold War.