Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Paine, the most radical of American revolutionaries, perhaps most fully understood the millennial potential of the new Republic.

Thanksgiving is a holiday about food – but it is more specifically a holiday about food’s absence.

Trump’s critic is utilizing a practice employed by many of the Founding Fathers to protect truth from power.

July 4th celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but we don’t even have the original!

J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" and Steven Stoll's "Ramp Hollow" both remind us that the history of poor and migratory people in Appalachia is a difficult story to tell.

On the intellectual history of the lines and arrows that have become a standard feature of the news media.

“Baron Von Steuben” was responsible for whipping the U.S. military into shape when things were looking bleakest.

A review of "American Honor: The Creation of the Nation’s Ideals during the Revolutionary Era."

We have the Swedes and William Henry Harrison to thank for the popularization of the log cabin.

From Benjamin Franklin to Quora, how advice has shaped Americans’ behavior and expectations of the world.

That's the conclusion of a psychology study published in the journal Sciece.

On 400 Years of Tribalism, Genocide, Expulsion, and Imprisonment.

How memory plays tricks with history.

The alcohol epidemic devastated Native American communities, leading to crippling poverty, high mortality rates — and a successful sobriety movement.

The complex combination of grievances that fueled the war had to do with taxes, class, and nationalism.

The document we celebrate today wasn't just the work of Thomas Jefferson's individual genius. Everyone was doing it.

Mary K. Goddard printed one of the most famous copies of our founding document.

James Madison thought of a lot of good reasons to impeach a President. Members of Congress might want to consult his list.

Benjamin Franklin even wrote an ode to a fallen one.

How do we decide what the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, or indeed any symbol, really means?