Menu
Idea

Founders

425
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 31–60 of 425 results. Go to first page
Painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Ages of Revolution: How Old Were the Early American Leaders on July 4, 1776?

They have shaped America, but how old were they on Independence Day?
by Todd Andrlik via Journal of the American Revolution on August 8, 2013
Lithograph of James Madison from Portrait and Biographical Album of Washtenaw County, Michigan, 1891, Wikimedia.

The Founders’ Muddled Legacy on the Right to Bear Arms Is Killing Us

A case of 18th-century politicking has stymied our ability to deal with a 21st-century crisis.
by William Hogeland via AlterNet on August 14, 2012
Fisher Ames, Founding Father and arch-foe of democracy.

Died on the 4th of July

Fisher Ames’s philosophy can be summed up as follows: the “power of the people, if uncontroverted, is licentious and mobbish.”
by Stephen B. Tippins via The American Conservative on July 3, 2012

Prior Convictions

Did the Founders want us to be faithful to their faith?
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on April 14, 2008
A drawing of John Adams.

John Adams Is Bald and Toothless

A brief history of the Alien and Sedition Acts.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on May 19, 2025
Collage of school children, church windows, and a map of Oklahoma territory.

Oklahoma Is Asking the Supreme Court to Ignore History

The Founders had disagreements about the role of religion in America’s public schools, but there was always one line they would not cross.
by Adam Laats via The Atlantic on April 25, 2025
Person sitting on the ground, head in hands.

Still Pursuing Happiness

The United States fares badly on the World Happiness Report. Who cares?
by Reuven Brenner via Law & Liberty on April 22, 2025
An 1851 painting of Patrick Henry speaking to the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Discover Patrick Henry’s Legacy, Beyond His Revolutionary ‘Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death’ Speech

Delivered 250 years ago, the famous oration marked the Henry’s influence. The politician also served in key roles in Virginia’s state government.
by Cassandra A. Good via Smithsonian on March 21, 2025
Dark, distorted painting of the American Revolution.

Tracing America’s Obsession With Conspiracy Theories Back to Its Founding

The revolutionary roots of a corrosive national pastime.
by Andrew Lawler via Literary Hub on February 25, 2025
Protestors use the celebrated Hamilton lyric, “Immigrants: We Get the Job Done” to protest the first inauguration of President Donald Trump.

“The Premise of Our Founding”: Immigration and Popular Mythmaking

On the tension between celebratory rhetoric and restrictive policy surrounding immigration.
by Connie Thomas via The Panorama on February 24, 2025
A mustache and a monocle with the preamble to the Constitution in its sights.

The Other Fear of the Founders

America’s early leaders were worried not only about demagogues like Donald Trump, but about the rise of an antidemocratic, wealthy elite that goads such men on.
by George Thomas via The Atlantic on February 12, 2025
A graphic celebrating the American Bicentennial, with the original flag crossing the modern flag, and Independence Hall next to the Capitol building.

The Revolution at 250: A Conversation

What are the most important insights historians have offered about the American Revolution in the decades since the Bicentennial?
by Kathleen DuVal, Leslie M. Harris, Serena Zabin, T. H. Breen, Michael D. Hattem via Journal of the Early Republic on December 15, 2024

The Sentimentalizing of Federalist Ten

Ideas about history still prevailing in the liberal resistance to Trump keep pushing us backward.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on December 10, 2024
A painting of Congress Hall and the New Theater in colonial Philadelphia.

The Mutiny of 1783

America’s only successful insurrection.
by Andrew A. Zellers-Frederick via Journal of the American Revolution on November 19, 2024
A drawing of protestors wrestling a tax collector to the ground.

A Prudent First Amendment

Often, the proper scope of the First Amendment can be determined only by considering both text and context.
by David Lewis Schaefer via Law & Liberty on November 7, 2024
Photo of Framer James A. Bayard then a modern day photo of Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

How Past and Present Catch Up With Each Other

The election of 1801 offers a first-hand example of how current events can offer historians new perspectives on the past.
by James M. Banner Jr. via The Panorama on October 23, 2024
Attendees look at a map of the U.S. electoral college during the Republican National Convention (RNC) near the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
partner

The Debate That Gave Us the Electoral College

John Dickinson's contributions to the Constitution continue to reverberate today.
by Jane E. Calvert via Made By History on October 18, 2024
Supreme Court building.

Lifetime Tenure for Supreme Court Justices Has Outlived Its Usefulness

While letting justices serve during “good behavior” was designed to encourage impartiality, it now tends to promote the opposite effect.
by Jack Rakove via Brennan Center For Justice on October 15, 2024
George Washington

The Moment of Truth

The reelection of Donald Trump would mark the end of George Washington’s vision for the presidency—and the United States.
by Tom Nichols via The Atlantic on October 9, 2024
Drawing of the Constitutional Convention, by John W. Winkler.
partner

Strange Political Bedfellows

The origins of the Electoral College are entwined with slavery, but not in the way that recent accounts have suggested.
by Mark McKibbin, Denver Brunsman via HNN on October 9, 2024
Illustration of the Constitution, with the hand of a Founder writing with a feather, and the other side a 21st century hand writing with a pen.

The Supreme Court’s Originalists Are Fundamentally Wrong About History

The Founders didn’t believe the Constitution had a fixed meaning. So why do so many of the justices?
by Andrew Lanham via The New Republic on October 7, 2024
A World History Encloypedia graphic image/illustration of The Feudal Society in Medieval Europe.

American Feudalism

A liberalism that divides humanity into a master class and a slave class deserves an asterisk as “white liberalism.”
by Paul Crider via Liberal Currents on October 2, 2024
The American Flag, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and a Jewish Star with Hebrew words.

The Spirit of '76: A Jewish Perspective on the American Revolution

What was “exceptional” about the American Revolution wasn’t so much the creation of a single republic but the immediate opportunity it provided for action.
by Michael Hoberman via Marginalia Review of Books on September 27, 2024
partner

“In the White Interest”

Many founders expressed their hope that slavery would be abolished, while simultaneously exerting themselves to defend it.
by Timothy Messer-Kruse via HNN on September 18, 2024
Chief Justice John Roberts at the State of the Union on March 7.

The Supreme Court Turns the President Into a King

The conservative justices have ignored history altogether and created a shocking new precedent: The president is above the law.
by Holly Brewer via The New Republic on July 1, 2024
"The President's House" (The White House), in the nineteenth century, print by Isidore Laurent Deroy after Augustus Kollner, 1848.

Can the Republic Survive Corrupt Presidents?

The Founders knew that executive power was vital but dangerous in any republic.
by Richard Samuelson via Law & Liberty on June 27, 2024
Cover of "A Great Disorder."

In Need of a New Myth

Myths to explain American history and chart a path to the future once helped to bind the country together. Today, they are absorbed into the culture wars.
by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on June 26, 2024
James Madison by Gilbert Stewart, 1821.

How the Constitution Unifies the Country

Yuval Levin urges us to take America’s greatest constitutional thinker, James Madison, as our lodestar.
by Marc Landy via Law & Liberty on June 11, 2024
Alexander Hamilton

The Federalist No. 1: Annotated

Alexander Hamilton’s anonymous essay challenged the voting citizens of New York to hold fast to the truth when deciding to ratify (or not) the US Constitution.
by Alexander Hamilton, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on May 30, 2024

The Electoral College and Slavery

It's easy to get this one wrong.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on May 24, 2024
View More
30 of
425

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History