Current Events that Relate to History
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CommentThe Yankees Who Built the Confederacy's Monuments
Outrage over a Boston firm recasting the Lee statue ignores an inconvenient truth. The Lost Cause landscape was always a Northern product.Civil War Memory -
Book ReviewTrump Didn't Invent the Tribunate Presidency
John Adams' rocky presidency illuminates the long-running conflicts over how Americans conceive of the executive power.Liberal Currents -
Journal ArticleWhat Happened to the Bones of the American Bison?
The near-extinction of the bison sparked an industry that left almost nothing of the animals behind.JSTOR Daily -
ExplainerThe Secret Effort to Prevent the Revolution
Newly discovered letters by John Dickinson shed light on his opposition to American independence.Law & Liberty -
CommentWhite House Defends 1882 Immigration Law Excluding Chinese Immigrants
The Trump administration is defending the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act against the charge that the law had a racist intent.Forbes -
AnnotationKetanji Brown Jackson, Civil War History, and the Supreme Court’s Struggle Over the Second Founding
Justice Jackson's concurring opinion in Trump v. Barbara looks to the origins of the 14th Amendment to rebut Justice Clarence Thomas's dissent.Muster -
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
Young Washington Is Old History
A new movie relies on 19th century myths to portray the very British George Washington as a moralistic proto-American ready to pursue independence. -
Excerpts
A Danger to Civilization
Lothrop Stoddard believed that the concept of “natural equality” between people was a threat to America. In the 1920s, it was hardly a fringe idea. -
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
Declaring “Revolution”
Even after the fighting started, it took years before American Patriots started calling their cause a “revolution.”