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Hawaiian landscape.

The Hawaiians Who Want Their Nation Back

In 1893, a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the Islands’ sovereign government. What does America owe Hawai‘i now?
by Adrienne LaFrance via The Atlantic on December 11, 2024
Protestors at Oxford University, with one holding a sign that reads "End Racism Now."

What Is Decolonisation?

There’s more talk of decolonisation than ever, while true independence for former colonies has faded from view. Why?
by Lydia Walker via Aeon on November 21, 2024
Calvin Coolidge with Native American leaders.

A Century Ago, This Law Underscored the Promises and Pitfalls of Native American Citizenship

The 1924 Indian Citizenship Act sought to assimilate Native people into white society. But the legislation, signed by President Calvin Coolidge, fell short.
by Francine Uenuma via Smithsonian on May 29, 2024
Colorado River.

On Its 100th Birthday, the Colorado River Compact Shows Its Age

The foundational document was flawed from the start.
by Jonathan P. Thompson via High Country News on November 11, 2022
A courtroom or public civic room full of people, with white and black people sitting on opposite sides of a railing.

When Tribal Nations Expel Their Black Members

Clashes between sovereignty rights and civil rights reveal an uncomfortable and complicated story about race and belonging in America.
by Philip J. Deloria via The New Yorker on July 14, 2022
A woman wearing a winter coat and a mask walks outside the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C., January 2022.

How the System Was Rigged

The global economic order and the myth of sovereignty.
by Branko Milanović via Foreign Affairs on June 21, 2022
Title page of a collection of the letters that debated Great Britain, inscribed to President John Adams.

Massachusettensis and Novanglus: The Last Great Debate Prior to the American Revolution

James M. Smith explains the last debates between Loyalists and Patriots prior to the official outbreak of the American Revolution.
by James M. Smith via Journal of the American Revolution on May 25, 2021

Can Colonial Nations Truly Recognise the Sovereignty of Indigenous People?

The Lakota, like other groups, see themselves as a sovereign people. Can Indigenous sovereignty survive colonisation?
by Pekka Hämäläinen via Aeon on October 2, 2019

Law Enforcement is Still Used as a Colonial Tool In Indian Country

Leaked documents reveal coordination between big business and law enforcement to break up last year’s protests at Standing Rock.
by Julian Brave NoiseCat via The Marshall Project on June 28, 2017

The Big, Nearly 200-Year-Old Legal Issue at The Heart of the Dakota Access Pipeline Fight

Tribal sovereignty is a concept that even some of the protesters may not be familiar with. But it's important.
by German Lopez via Vox on March 13, 2017
A group of workers in hard hats walk through the shallow water of one of the Panama Canal's locks.

‘The Canal Is Ours’

Trump’s threats to take control of the Panama Canal have precipitated a struggle over the country’s sovereignty.
by Miriam Pensack via New York Review of Books on June 28, 2025
F. D. R. looks intently across a table at Brazilian President Getulio Vargas during a meal.

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Christy Thornton and Greg Grandin discuss his new book, “America, América,” and the intertwined histories of the U.S. and Latin America.
by Greg Grandin, Christy Thornton via The Baffler on May 30, 2025
John Quincy Adams
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Are You Not Large and Unwieldy Enough Already?

John Quincy Adams challenges the idea of an expanding American frontier. 
by Andrew C. Isenberg via HNN on April 23, 2025
Six hands holding a sword with an eagle on the hilt.

The Democratic Promise of Manifest Destiny

All Americans with some education are aware that Manifest Destiny was one of the Bad Things in our past and very few know any more about it than that.
by Hamilton Craig via Compact on March 25, 2025
Engraving by Samuel de Champlain of himself and his Algonquin allies attacking the Iroquois.

An Expanding Vision of America

Major new books about the peoples who lived in North America for millennia before the arrival of Europeans are reshaping the history of the continent.
by Nicole Eustace via New York Review of Books on March 6, 2025
Poster reading "Basta Buitres," or "Enough Vultures," calling for Argentina to unite against the United States.

How the US Courts Rewrote the Rules of International Trade

How the American legal system created an economic environment that subordinated the entire world to domestic business interests.
by Brett Christophers via The Nation on March 3, 2025
A padlock around the Pentagon.

The Left-Wing Origins of ‘Deep State’ Theory

Those who wish to restore democratic rule, regardless of political orientation, must take it seriously.
by Christian Parenti via Compact on February 28, 2025
Donald Trump with a crown on his head.

Donald Trump Is Trying to Take American Law Back to 1641

Understand that if Trump succeeds the result will not be the harmless resurrection of a quaint jurisprudential artifact.
by Frank O. Bowman III via Slate on February 26, 2025
Supreme court passing from the robing room to the court chambers, 1881.
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Lacking a Demonstrable Source of Authority

On the case that provoked the courts to decide if the federal government had jurisdiction to exercise American criminal law over Native peoples on Native lands.
by Keith Richotte Jr. via HNN on February 19, 2025
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, 1858.

A Constitutionalist or a Revolutionist?

Which one was Abraham Lincoln?
by Herman Belz via Modern Age on February 17, 2025
Jimmy Carter and General Omar Torrijos shake hands after signing the Panama Canal Treaty in 1977

The Panama Canal Treaty Declassified

Kissinger warned: “This is no issue to face the world on. It looks like pure colonialism.”
by Peter Kornbluh via National Security Archive on February 3, 2025
Ronald Reagan

Revisiting the Panama Canal Debate of 1978

The uproar over Trump’s remarks about the Canal recalls a lively debate from the late 1970s.
by James W. Carden via The American Conservative on January 23, 2025
Donald Trump half-obscured by the American flag.

Emperor Trump’s New Map

The president who built his fan base on isolationism is pivoting to a kind of imperialism that the U.S. hasn’t seen in decades.
by Franklin Foer via The Atlantic on January 23, 2025
Workers with shovels constructing the Panama Canal.
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Trump’s Talk of the Panama Canal Taps Into Old Myths About U.S. Power

By threatening to reclaim the Panama Canal, Trump is evoking false stories about U.S. beneficence.
by Julie Greene via Made By History on January 22, 2025
Demonstrators in 1977 hold signs protesting a treaty returning control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
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The Panama Canal Could Help Unify Trump's Fractious Movement

In the 1970s, a conservative coalition came together to fight ceding control of the Panama Canal—proving the political potency of the issue.
by Aaron Coy Moulton via Made By History on January 16, 2025
A drawing of a Viking ship approaching Greenland.

The Long Struggle for Greenland

Throughout its history, the vast Arctic island has been viewed by competing powers as a strategic prize and geopolitical asset.
by Paul Lay via Engelsberg Ideas on January 8, 2025
Donald Trump wearing a MAGA hat.

The Panama Question

Trump’s canal comments resurrect a forgotten American interest.
by Joseph Addington via The American Conservative on December 29, 2024
Young people running through the streets of Taipei; a middle aged businessman in Houston.

Texas’ Hotbed of Taiwanese Nationalism

For decades, Houston families like mine have helped keep the flame of independence burning.
by Josephine Lee via Texas Observer on November 25, 2024

Globalism, Sovereignty, and Resistance

Quinn Slobodian and Jennifer Mittelstadt discuss their research on the meanings of “globalism” and “sovereignty” throughout history.
by Jennifer Mittelstadt, Quinn Slobodian via History & Political Economy Project on November 18, 2024
Collage of different Indigenous people from the present day.
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Native Narratives: The Representation of Native Americans in Public Broadcasting

A selection of radio and television programs that reinforce or reject stereotypes, and Native-created media that responds to those depictions.
by Sally Smith via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on November 16, 2024
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