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American Democracy Was Never Designed to Be Democratic
The partisan redistricting tactics of cracking and packing aren’t merely flaws in the system—they are the system.
by
Louis Menand
via
The New Yorker
on
August 15, 2022
Democracy Is Asking Too Much of Its Data
The latest US Census—used to decide representation in Congress—is flawed. One surprising solution? Enlarge the House of Representatives.
by
Dan Bouk
via
Wired
on
June 28, 2022
How The House Got Stuck At 435 Seats
After 110 years, a look at the benefits — and drawbacks — to expanding the chamber.
by
Geoffrey Skelley
via
FiveThirtyEight
on
August 12, 2021
House Arrest
How an automated algorithm constrained Congress for a century.
by
Dan Bouk
via
Data & Society
on
April 14, 2021
Standing on the Crater of a Volcano
In 1920, James Weldon Johnson went to Washington, armed with census data, to fight rampant voter suppression across the American South.
by
Dan Bouk
via
Census Stories, USA
on
July 27, 2020
100 Years Ago, Congress Threw Out Results of the Census
The results of the 1920 census kicked off a bitter, decadelong political squabble. Could the same happen again in 2020?
by
Walter Reynolds Farley
via
The Conversation
on
February 4, 2020
U.S. Population Is Growing, But the House of Representatives Is Same Size as in Taft Era
How representative is the U.S. House of Representatives?
by
Drew DeSilver
via
Pew Research Center
on
May 31, 2018
Wealth, Slavery, and the History of American Taxation
The nation's first "colorblind" tax set the stage for over two centuries of systematic consolidation of white racial interests.
by
Christopher F. Petrella
via
Black Perspectives
on
April 20, 2017
Not “Three-Fifths of a Person”
What the three-fifths clause meant at ratification.
by
Nathaniel C. Green
via
Commonplace
on
September 10, 2024
partner
Super Chief
Reconsidering Earl Warren's place in U.S. history.
by
Michael Bobelian
via
HNN
on
May 14, 2024
Tax Regimes
Historian Robin Einhorn reflects on Americans’ complicated relationship to taxes, from the colonial period through the Civil War to the tax revolts of the 1980s.
by
Robin Einhorn
,
Noam Maggor
via
Phenomenal World
on
March 24, 2022
partner
West Virginia's Founding Politicians Understood Democracy Better than Today's
They believed that wealth should have no bearing on a citizen’s voting power.
by
Daniel W. Sunshine
via
HNN
on
October 17, 2021
Immigration Hard-Liner Files Reveal 40-Year Bid Behind Trump's Census Obsession
The Trump administration tried and failed to accomplish a count of unauthorized immigrants to reshape Congress, the Electoral College and public policy.
by
Hansi Lo Wang
via
NPR
on
February 15, 2021
Minority Rule Cannot Last in America
It never has.
by
Kenneth Owen
via
The Atlantic
on
December 2, 2020
partner
Trump’s Push to Skew the Census Builds on a Long History of Politicizing the Count
Who counts determines whose interests are represented in government.
by
Paul Schor
via
Made By History
on
July 23, 2020
partner
The Constitutional Revolution a Century Ago That Is Shaping the 2020 Election
And why we need another one.
by
Bruce J. Schulman
via
Made By History
on
June 21, 2019
Empire of the Census
America’s long history of manipulating its headcount for political gain.
by
Ed Burmila
via
The Baffler
on
March 1, 2019
partner
Electing the House of Representatives
A series of interactive maps showing the results of nearly two centuries of congressional elections.
by
Robert K. Nelson
,
LaDale Winling
via
American Panorama
on
October 15, 2018
The Struggle Over the Meaning of the 14th Amendment Continues
The fight over the 150-year old language in the Constitution is a battle for the very heart of the American republic.
by
Garrett Epps
via
The Atlantic
on
July 10, 2018
partner
Beyond Numbers: A History of the U.S. Census
To mark the culmination of Census 2010, we explore the fascinating story of how Americans have counted themselves.
via
BackStory
on
December 22, 2010
A Colorblind Compromise?
“Colorblindness,” an ideology that denies race as an organizing principle of the nation’s structural order, reaches back to the drafting of the US Constitution.
by
Matthew Wills
,
Kasey Henricks
via
JSTOR Daily
on
September 9, 2022
Making the Constitution Safe for Democracy
The second section of the Fourteenth Amendment offers severe penalties for menacing the right to vote—if anyone can figure out how to enforce it.
by
Anthony Conwright
via
The Forum
on
August 17, 2022
The Articles of Confederation and Western Expansion
In settling a rivalry between Maryland and Virginia and preventing individual states from getting into bed with France and Spain, maybe the Articles weren't a failure after all.
by
Richard J. Werther
via
Journal of the American Revolution
on
June 14, 2022
Our 250-Year Fight for Multiracial Democracy
We say we’re for it. We’ve never truly had it. These next few years will determine its fate.
by
Matt Ford
via
The New Republic
on
May 17, 2021
How the Electoral College Was Nearly Abolished in 1970
The House approved a constitutional amendment to dismantle the indirect voting system, but it was killed in the Senate by a filibuster.
by
Dave Roos
via
HISTORY
on
August 3, 2020
Will This Year’s Census Be the Last?
In the past two centuries, the evolution of the U.S. Census has tracked the country’s social tensions and reflected its political controversies.
by
Jill Lepore
via
The New Yorker
on
March 16, 2020
What Do States Have Against Cities, Anyway?
Legislatures regularly interfere with local affairs. The reasons, according to research, will surprise you.
by
Alan Ehrenhalt
via
Governing
on
November 1, 2017
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