Roundup

It’s a good time to listen to young Lincoln

by Cass Sunstein

A speech he gave as a 28 year old demonstrates his reverence for the rule of law  –  something worth remembering just now. 

Monumental Rubbish: With the Statues Torn Down, What Next for New Orleans?

by Adolph Reed Jr.

The city is unquestionably better for ridding itself of these symbols of white supremacy, but a focus on the past must not sidestep the need to confront what actually reproduces inequality in the present.

How the Nazis destroyed the first gay rights movement

by John Broich

The story of how close Germany – and much of Europe – came to liberating its LGBTQ people before violently reversing that trend under new authoritarian regimes is an object lesson showing that the history of LGBTQ rights is not a record of constant progress.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN. 

No, Archeologists Did Not Just Discover Sally Hemings’s Room

by Thomas A. Foster

They found our own struggles with the past.

Video of the Week: Powerful New Ad Features Multiethnic Descendants of America’s Founding Fathers

by Lilly Workneh

The founding fathers may have all been white men in wigs, but their descendants certainly aren’t.

Thomas Jefferson’s Bible Teaching

by Annette Gordon-Reed

America has yet to realize his vision of enlightened religion.

Partisans often try to claim July 4 as their own. It usually backfires.

by Kevin M. Kruse

Independence Day has always been a political battlefield.

Too many Americans still don’t see black history as their own

by Margaret Jordan

In the retelling of U.S. history, there is an incomplete and frequently inaccurate story of African American history.

Donald Trump’s Populism Decoded: How a Billionaire Became the Voice of the “Little People”

by Leonard Steinhorn

That a billionaire would assume the mantle of pitchfork populism may seem like a political and cultural oxymoron, but Trump is far more like his supporters than appearances suggest.

Protectionism 100 years ago helped ignite a world war. Could it happen again?

by Marc-William Palen

Trump, tapping into long-standing Republican fears of free trade, is knowingly returning the GOP to its paranoid protectionist roots — a move against globalization that is also building up populist momentum in Britain and France.

What happens when the federal government eliminates health coverage?

by Simon Haeder

Lessons from the past.

The Scars of Our Nation’s Violent Birth

by George Will

The new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia preserves our bloody road to independence.

We celebrate Independence Day on the wrong date for the right reasons

by Joseph J. Ellis

John Adams’s choice, July 2, makes more sense. That was the day independence was officially decided. But we are right to celebrate the fourth since that's the date Americans always have.

Americans have always been nice...

by Carrie Tirado Bramen

But is it just a sham?

Monuments teach us lessons about the toll of hatred

by Renee Graham

Someone again vandalized a memorial to Emmett Till. Whoever destroyed that marker wanted to erase history.

A book for straight people that explains that gay marriage was hugely controversial even for gays

by Andrew Sullivan

What resolved the gay divide, in the end, was the religious right.

The Nixon tapes and Donald Trump

by Luke A. Nichter

Since President Trump’s inauguration, and even before, there have been countless comparisons between the 37th and 45th presidents of the United States. Some of the comparisons make sense, while others do not.

On July Fourth, pursue happiness together, like founders wanted

by Jonathan Zimmerman

On the Fourth of July, Americans will drink beer, eat hot dogs and celebrate 241 years of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” That means you get to do whatever you want, provided that you don’t interfere with anyone else. Right? Wrong.

Roundup Top 10!

This week's broad sampling of opinion pieces found on the Internet, as selected by the editors of HNN.