Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 91–120 of 121 results. Go to first page

Trump and Lincoln Are Opposite Kinds of Presidents

History is not kind to those who divide and dither.
Portrait of John Brown beside the American flag, c.1846.

America, Lost and Found at Wounded Knee

Stephen Vincent Benét’s lost epic “John Brown’s Body” envisions a nation sutured together after the Civil War, but fails to reckon with the war’s causes.

Sorry, New York Times, But America Began in 1776

The United States didn't begin in 1619.

Five Myths About Slavery

No, the Civil War didn’t end slavery, and the first Africans didn’t arrive in America in 1619.

The Hidden Stakes of the 1619 Controversy

Critics of the New York Times’s 1619 Project obscure a longstanding debate among historians over whether the American Revolution was a proslavery revolt.

The Original Southerners

American Indians, the Civil War, and Confederate memory.

How to Forget

A review of Lewis Hyde’s “A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past.”

Moral Courage and the Civil War

Monuments ask us to look at the past, but how they do it exposes crucial aspects of the present.

How Slavery Shaped American Capitalism

The New York Times is right that slavery made a major contribution to capitalist development in the United States — just not in the way they imagine.
Martin Luther King Jr. criticizes the Vietnam war at a speech at University of Minnesota in 1967.
partner

Centrism and Moderation? No Thanks.

In times of moral crisis, everyone picks a side — even those proclaiming neutrality.

The Costs of the Confederacy

In the last decade, taxpayers have spent at least $40 million on Confederate monuments and groups that perpetuate racist ideology.
Man cheering at a political rally while wearing a Trump sticker on his cheesehead hat.

'Tribalism’ Doesn’t Explain Our Political Conflicts

We should look to history – not prehistory – to understand current political challenges.

Prophets of War

Telegraph operators were the first to know news of the Civil War.

America Descends Into the Politics of Rage

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

Not Even Trump Wants to Praise Robert E. Lee

Most of President Donald Trump's 20th-century predecessors expressed profound admiration for Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

Raising Cane

The violence on Capitol Hill that foreshadowed a bloody war.

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.

The Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862

While a far cry from full emancipation, it was an important step towards the abolition of slavery.

Fine Specimens

How Walt Whitman became the quintessential poet of disability and death.

In the Shadows of Slavery’s Capitalism

"Masterless Men" shows how the antebellum political economy made poor southern whites into a volatile, and potentially disruptive, class.
Millard Filmore.
partner

Remembering the Sins of Millard Fillmore

A little-remembered president's most notorious act.
original

The Future of our Confederate Monuments Rests With the Kids

The perspectives of older Americans have dominated the debate. It's time we pay more attention to what younger people have to say.

I Grew Up as a Black Southerner Idolizing Robert E. Lee

I didn't know the Confederate general owned slaves. I didn't even know he was part of the Confederacy.
George Washington statue at Federal Hall

The Next Lost Cause

Why the slope from toppling Confederate monuments to shunning the Founders is so slippery.
original

(Still) Worrying About the Civil War

Why I decided to devote my professional life to something I wasn't very interested in.
partner

Upheaval at the 1860 Democratic Convention: What Happened When a Party Split

Some issues are too fundamental for a party to withstand, and the consequences can last for a generation.

Slavery Myths Debunked

The Irish were slaves too; slaves had it better than factory workvers; black people fought for the Confederacy; and so on.
Frederick Douglass.
partner

"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"

Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech is widely known as one of the greatest abolitionist speeches ever.
Political cartoon of U.S. President Martin Van Buren sitting on a fence as men on each side try to pull him toward them.
partner

The Spirit of Party and Faction

On factional strife in the Early Republic, and why parties themselves were universally despised.
The house of Alfred Iverson Jr. behind a white curtain.

My Civil War

A southerner discovers the inaccuracy of the the myths he grew up with, and slowly comes to terms with his connection to the Civil War.

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person