Power

The problem of how to reconcile irreconcilable values is what led to the Civil War. It hasn’t gone away.

Changes wrought by the war still shape America today.

The Fourteenth Amendment captures the idea that no people born in the United States should be forced to live in the shadows.

Like Nixon, Trump has managed to marginalize the media, creating an effective foil.

Voting has always been restricted to empower a minority.

A brief history of the printed ballot.

How the world we live in already happened in 1992.

Many on both sides are worried about the party’s leftward swing. They say it’s a deviation from the mainstream. It’s not.

Was his disdain for his vice president greater than his desire for Democrats to win?

In 1874, Democrats picked up an astounding 94 seats in the 293-seat House.

Voter suppression tactics have roots in Southern history dating to the Antebellum era.

Liberal politicians should trumpet a vision of masculinity that incorporates the best qualities of LBJ and Humphrey.

The promise and perils of left populism.

The Republican Party used control of women’s bodies as political capital to shift the balance of power their way.

From voting rights to the electoral college, a brief explainer on three widespread misconceptions about voting.

The main issue they were debating was how democratic a representative body should be. And their answer was “not very democratic at all.”

If you think the First World War began senselessly, consider how it ended.

White evangelical Christians are among President Trump’s most important supporters. But more than 40 years ago, they were on the margins of American politics.

For centuries, voter fraud has been used as an excuse to restrict the vote.

Trump and other peddlers of angry rhetoric may reap short-term gains, but history suggests they will provoke a fearsome backlash.

The first Jewish member of Congress was a virulent nativist and anti-immigration troll who ended his life in an insane asylum.

Author Sarah Churchwell on the entangled history of America’s most loaded phrases.

The ever-shifting curve of shoreline and river is no match for the infinite, idealized straight line.

Georgia GOP candidate Brian Kemp is using a tried-and-tested formula designed to erode and corrode American democracy.

Hubert Humphrey and the unmaking of Cold War liberalism.

Surprising lessons from Lebanon’s Conflict in the 1970s.

Christine Blasey Ford, the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, and battles over America's history.

What the DNA controversy reveals about race, identity politics, and the Native American present.

How Rizzo's blue-collar populism helped him survive his tumultuous first term as mayor.

On his deathbed, GOP strategist Lee Atwater admitted he staged the events that brought down a Democratic presidential candidate.