James G. Blaine

When James G. Blaine went to war with his son's ex-wife in the national press, he had no idea that two could play that game.

Instead of compelling Canada to become an American state, the 1890 McKinley Tariff drove Canada into British hands.

Last minute disclosures or revelations can play an outsized role in the last weeks before an election.

The landscape for educational freedom is finally freed of 19th century prejudices, but other federal constitutional questions remain.

Toward the end of his life, Frederick Douglass served briefly as U.S. ambassador to Haiti.

In the case of Chester Arthur, the story is one of surprising redemption.

Birthright citizenship under attack.

In 1893, a U.S.-backed coup overthrew the Islands’ sovereign government. What does America owe Hawai‘i now?

How a single phrase or blunder can end up dominating our political discourse.

For as long as Americans have been subjected to lousy candidates, they’ve been told to suck it up and vote for one of them.

Roscoe Conkling was a successful politician and an able lawyer. But the colorful and irascible senator had no desire to serve on the high court.

Almon F. Rockwell's newly resurfaced journals, excerpted exclusively here, offer an incisive account of the assassinated presidents' final moments.

President Benjamin Harrison promoted the holiday after a mob killed 11 Italian Americans and set off a diplomatic crisis.

How the late 19th century’s raucous party system gave way to a sedate and exclusionary political culture that erected more and more barriers to participation.

The collapse of the Republican Party.

Betrayal. Paranoia. Cowardice. We've been here before.

How a Los Angeles Times editor helped create the myth of the American West.

The strange tale of the socialites who shaped modern marriage on the American frontier.