Menu
Idea

political compromise

195
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Abraham Lincoln

Was the Civil War Inevitable?

Before Lincoln turned the idea of “the Union” into a cause worth dying for, he tried other means of ending slavery in America.
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on April 21, 2025
partner

The North Tried Compromise. The South Chose War.

The South's insistence upon protecting and spreading slavery caused the Civil War.
by Carole Emberton via Made By History on November 1, 2017

John Kelly Calls Robert E. Lee An ‘Honorable Man’ and Says ‘Lack of Compromise’ Caused The Civil War

The White House chief of staff set off a firestorm Monday after his comments on the Confederate general.
by Eli Rosenberg, Cleve R. Wootson Jr. via Washington Post on October 31, 2017
Washington D.C. in 1860.

Draining the Swamp

Washington may be the only city on Earth that lobbied itself into existence.
by Ted Widmer via The New Yorker on January 19, 2017

How the Demise of Her Health-Care Plan Led to the Politician Clinton Is Today

As first lady, Clinton rejected the ways of Washington and paid a price.
by Amy Goldstein via Washington Post on August 25, 2016
Political cartoon depicts Roosevelt steering a ship out of a depression while his detractors are rained on.

Welcoming Their Hatred

As Elon Musk and Donald Trump engaged in a campaign of mutually-assured destruction, social media saw record new levels of schadenfreude.
by Kevin M. Kruse via Campaign Trails on June 6, 2025
Hakeem Jeffries with a sign that reads "Hands off Medicaid and SNAP"
partner

The Historic Dangers of Slashing Medicaid Funding

Medicaid has always been fiercely contested political terrain, and past cuts have had disastrous human costs.
by Ben Zdencanovic via Made By History on May 6, 2025
1860 political cartoon depicting Lincoln as a "Wide-Awake"
partner

A Posthumous Romance of White Male Reunion

The history of deriving political meaning from Abraham Lincoln’s sexuality.
by Andrew Donnelly via HNN on February 11, 2025
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
Eugene V. Debs giving a speech on an American flag themed stage.

Did ‘Churchianity’ Sink American Socialism?

A new book blames institutional Protestantism for undermining a vibrant strain of Christian radicalism that swirled through the Gilded Age.
by Heath W. Carter via Commonweal on July 26, 2024
Collage of Stop Cop City protestors and Coca Cola products.

No Atlanta Way

Stop Cop City meets the establishment.
by Sam Worley via The Drift on June 28, 2024
Two young people working construction through AmeriCorps.

Creating AmeriCorps

The bipartisan push to create AmeriCorps, and the community service organization's impact.
by Catherine Milton via HistPhil on April 4, 2024
Woodrow Wilson working at his desk on May 1, 1917.

Don’t Be So Quick to Laud Woodrow Wilson

An effort is underway to restore President Wilson’s reputation as a great reformer. His best reforms were won by a mass movement, often pushing against Wilson.
by Henry Snow via Jacobin on March 14, 2024
Woodrow Wilson.

The Poltergeist of Woodrow Wilson

We still live with the consequences of the 28th president’s fuzzy thinking.
by Sean Durns via The American Conservative on February 9, 2024
Obama, Reagan, Trump, George W Bush, and Biden

Things Fall Apart: How the Middle Ground on Immigration Collapsed

Politicians from both sides used to agree on immigration policy. What happened?
by Kirk Semple, Jonah M. Kessel via New York Times Op-Docs on January 23, 2024
DC Map

Fifty Years Of Home Rule In Washington, DC

After Congress robbed Washingtonians of local and federal representation, decades of activism -- slowed by racist opposition -- finally succeeded in 1973.
via The Metropole on December 20, 2023
Bayard Rustin speaks from the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington.

Bayard Rustin Showed the Promise and Pitfalls of Coalition Politics

Bayard Rustin tried to forge a mass coalition to deliver progressive change. His failure to do so in the 1960s tells us much about building one today.
by Chris Maisano via Jacobin on December 9, 2023
Bayard Rustin speaking at an event.

Eclipsed in His Era, Bayard Rustin Gets to Shine in Ours

The civil-rights mastermind was sidelined by his own movement. Now he’s back in the spotlight. What can we learn from his strategies of resistance?
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on November 6, 2023
Closed fist with faces of Judith Shklar, Hannah Arendt, Isaiah Berlin, and Lionel Trilling

Cold War Liberalism Is Still With Us. Is That a Good Thing?

A scholarly roundtable on Samuel Moyn's new book.
by Jan-Werner Müller, Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, Nicolas Guilhot, Penny Marie von Eschen, Vaughn Rasberry via The Chronicle of Higher Education on October 2, 2023
Supreme Court justice swearing in FDR at inauguration.

When FDR Took On the Supreme Court

The standard narrative of Roosevelt's court-packing efforts casts them as a failure. But what if they were a success?
by John Fabian Witt via The Nation on June 27, 2023
Signs at bus stops in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, telling residents about the availability of the SNAP program.
partner

SNAP Work Requirements Are a Triumph of Politics Over Evidence

Decades of evidence reveals that work requirements for food assistance leave people hungry and hurt the economy. But supporting them remains good politics.
by Lindsay Drane Amaral via Made By History on June 6, 2023
Senators Cory Booker and Chuck Grassley conversing.

How Washington Bargained Away Rural America

Every five years, the farm bill brings together Democrats and Republicans. The result is the continued corporatization of agriculture.
by Luke Goldstein via The American Prospect on May 24, 2023
Abraham Lincoln.

The Two Constitutions

James Oakes’s deeply researched book argues that two very different readings of the 1787 charter put the United States on a course of all but inevitable conflict.
by David W. Blight via New York Review of Books on May 18, 2023
D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, left, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) greet the audience at a town hall meeting at Eastern High School in D.C. in 1995.

House GOP and D.C.: A Historically Strained Marriage Grows More Tenuous

Republicans have long made a sport of deriding Washington, portraying it as a dysfunctional, crime-infested “swamp."
by Paul Schwartzman via Retropolis on May 13, 2023
Political cartoon of Franklin Roosevelt pulling the Democratic Party donkey with Uncle Sam, Congress, and Republicans behind them.

Pitching the Big Tent

The secret, often missing ingredient to building a majoritarian progressive coalition.
by Nicole Hemmer via Democracy Journal on March 22, 2023
Collage of famous historical sites around the world.

The Future of Historic Preservation: History Matters … But Which History?

The complicated and visceral issue of how we preserve our history offers an opportunity for meaningful discourse.
by Jennifer Tiedemann via Discourse on February 28, 2023
Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson at his desk in November 1957.

When Lyndon B. Johnson Chose the Middle Ground on Civil Rights—and Disappointed Everyone

Always a dealmaker, then-senator LBJ negotiated with segregationists to pass a bill that cautiously advanced racial equality.
by Zachary Clary via Smithsonian on January 23, 2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) points to a newly installed sign above his office after he was elected in 15 rounds of votes.
partner

What Lessons Can the House Draw From 1923’s Speaker Battle?

The House speaker fight was eerily reminiscent of 1923 — but the differences between the two will drive what comes next.
by Christopher McKnight Nichols, Maxine Wagenhoffer via Made By History on January 9, 2023
Kevin McCarthy
partner

What 1856 Teaches Us About the Ramifications of the House Speaker Fight

The battle is worth winning for Kevin McCarthy — and could reshape the Republican Party.
by Corey M. Brooks via Made By History on January 5, 2023
Wide view of past members in the House of Representatives.

What History Tells Us About Kevin McCarthy’s Chances

One hundred years ago, a strong leader brought House rebels to the table to elect a speaker. Can McCarthy do the same?
by Joshua Zeitz via Politico Magazine on January 5, 2023
View More
30 of
195

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History