Current Events that Relate to History
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First PersonWhat Broke Monticello
How a right-wing smear campaign tried to silence the reality of Thomas Jefferson’s life, and in some ways succeeded.The American Prospect -
CommentHow Historians Took Over Liberal Punditry
The hottest resistance talking aheads during Trump 2.0 are academics. What happened?The New Republic -
Book ReviewAn Uncertain Triumphalism
America’s centennial in 1876 was celebrated with a grand exhibition that projected an image of unity and inventiveness in the wake of civil war and recession.New York Review of Books -
CommentTo Understand ‘America,’ Understand the Americas
U.S. independence is a story of the entire Western Hemisphere.Zócalo Public Square -
CommentOriginal Intent of the Declaration
Though the Declaration has become familiar to us, the real meaning behind it is all too obscured.Law & Liberty -
CommentSemiquincentennial Blues
I am yearning to reject something that is not even being sold to me.n+1 -
exhibitAmerica’s Big Birthdays
Every 50 years, the nation comes together to wrestle with the principles of its founding and what they mean for us in the present.
From the HNN Archive
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Newsletter Features
Birthright Citizenship Existed Before the Fourteenth Amendment
The idea that citizenship extends to everyone born on U.S. soil has precedents stretching back to the Founding. -
Newsletter Features
Declaring “Revolution”
Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.” -
Excerpts
The Bicentennial Made American History Look Ridiculous
Many Americans felt the U.S. had failed to live up to its ideals on its 200th anniversary. They hoped it might improve by the Declaration’s next big celebration. -
Newsletter Features
An Appeal for Inaction
On the United States’ 150th birthday, Calvin Coolidge said that the country’s work was done. Not everyone agreed. -
Newsletter Features
What Has His Billion Dollars Made of Him?
Finding shades of Elon Musk in Upton Sinclair’s 1937 novel about Henry Ford. -
Newsletter Features
Reading Playboy for the History
A historian stumbles upon an article that provides a fascinating glimpse into how the world thought about witchcraft and sex in 1963.