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Illustration of Ken Burns

The Unbearable Whiteness of Ken Burns

The filmmaker’s new documentary on Benjamin Franklin tells an old and misleading story.
screenshot of primary source archive with "slut" in search browser and primacy source results listed below

Sluts and the Founders

Understanding the meaning of the word "slut" in the Founders' vocabulary.
James Madison seated at desk

What Would James Madison Have Thought of the Filibuster?

A leading historian of Madison's political thought explains that the framer "did not believe in minority rule."
Capitol rotunda dome.

The Changing Same of U.S. History

Like the 1619 Project, two new books on the Constitution reflect a vigorous debate about what has changed in the American past—and what hasn’t.
Abraham Lincoln speaking to a crowd.

Stop Making Sense

Are the truths in the Declaration of Independence really self-evident?
Congresswoman going on the Senate floor in Washington D.C.
partner

The Founders Constructed Our Government to Foster Inaction

Why Democrats have struggled to implement their agenda.
The National Archive rotunda, Washington, D.C.

Why Americans Worship the Constitution

The veneration of the Constitution is directly connected to America’s emergence as global hegemon.
Montpelier, the home of James Madison in Orange, Virginia

Is History for Sale?

The omnipresence of slavery at historic sites today seems intended to tarnish remarkable achievements and promote the cause of identity politics.
Painting of the Parthenon by Frederic Edwin Church

A Story of Use and Abuse

Athenian democracy in the political imagination.
Luther Martin
partner

For Constitution Day, Let's Toast the Losers of the Convention

Anti-federalist Luther Martin's agenda failed at the Constitutional Convention, but his criticisms of the Founders may still resonate with us today.
Red, white, and blue

‘The Cause’ Review: Revolutionary Answers

The author of ‘Founding Brothers’ tries to capture the breadth of the War for Independence in a single narrative.
Portrait of Robert Carter III

Like Washington and Jefferson, He Championed Liberty. Unlike the Founders, He Freed his Slaves

The little-known story of Robert Carter III.
Biden in front of George Washington painting
partner

A Conflict Among the Founders is Still Shaping Infrastructure Debates in 2021

What role should the federal government play in building our infrastructure?
A cracked picture of Washington crossing the Delaware River.

The Incoherence of American History

We ascribe too much meaning to the early years of the republic.
The raised fists of a crowd of protesters.

We Have to Face History No Matter How Hard We Try to Erase It.

Let’s remember that performative anti-racism is as profitable politically as racism has been.
Painting of the Continental Congress

The Pursuit of Happiness: New Approaches to the American Revolutionary Past

A new way to think about the American Revolution.
A red gun and blue gun pointing in opposite directions, with flags spelling "We"

Originalism, Divided

The theory has not provided the clarity some of its early proponents had hoped it would.
Pro-Trump protesters gather outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6
partner

Talk of Secession Always Gets U.S. History Wrong

Americans have always been deeply divided.
George Washington riding into town while a crowd cheers.

Mary Ball Washington, George’s Single Mother, Often Gets Overlooked – but she's Well Worth Saluting

Martha Saxton dives into the life of the mother of George Washington and how historians have misrepresented her in the past.
Rick Santorum
partner

Rick Santorum and His Critics are Both Wrong About Native American History

The Founders terrorized and exterminated Native Americans instead of learning from them.
Silhouette with pieces of constitutions and other prints inside

When Constitutions Took Over the World

Was this new age spurred by the ideals of the Enlightenment or by the imperatives of global warfare?
"We the People"; US Constitution

It Would Be Great if the United States Were Actually a Democracy

The pervasive mythmaking about the supposed wisdom of the founders has covered up a central truth: the US Constitution is an antidemocratic mess.
A red, white, and blue star over a cropped portrait of James Madison.

America Must Become a Democracy

The authors of the Constitution feared mass participation would unsettle government, but it’s the privileged minority that has proved destabilizing.
Book cover for Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Chernow Gonna Chernow

A Pulitzer Prize winner punches down.
Signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Against the Consensus Approach to History

How not to learn about the American past.
Trump supporters standing outside of the U.S. Capitol building.
partner

What Pro-Trump Insurrectionists Share — and Don’t — With the American Revolution

Some supporters of the violent mob scene at the Capitol proclaimed it was the beginning of a “Second American Revolution.”
Alexander Hamilton on the ten dollar bill

What We Still Get Wrong About Alexander Hamilton

Far from a partisan for free markets, the Founding Father insisted on the need for economic planning. We need more of that vision today.
A drawing of George Washington surrounded by seals representing the states.

The Constitutional Convention Debates the Electoral College

How the founders settled on the system we love to hate today.

‘America Is a Republic, Not a Democracy’ Is a Dangerous—And Wrong—Argument

Enabling sustained minority rule at the national level is not a feature of our constitutional design, but a perversion of it.

The Framers of the Constitution Didn’t Worry About ‘Originalism’

History shows that the text is far more complex than the legal doctrine might indicate.

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