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Featured Essays
Some writers ignore a mountain of evidence contrary to their theories about the telephone's development.
New evidence finally settles the 150-year-old debate as to whether Alexander Graham Bell or Elisha Gray first invented the telephone.
Museums and historic sites across the Southeast help us better understand Andrew Jackson, who helped define American democracy but also championed the brutal treatment of indigenous peoples.
America 250!
The Plight of Massachusetts Loyalists | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Larry C. KerpelmanIn “the cradle of the American Revolution,” loyalists to the Crown faced a harsh choice: live with terrible abuse where they were, or flee to friendlier, but alien regions.
How One Man Launched a Revolution | Spring 2018 , Vol 63, No 1
By Christine GibsonThomas Paine's Common Sense helped Americans "decide upon the propriety of separation,” as George Washington said.
America 100: The Great Centennial Fair | Summer 2026, Vol 71, No 3
By Fergus M. BordewichThe extravaganza celebrating the nation’s first century was the greatest cultural event of America’s Gilded Age.
They Turned the World Upside Down | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Richard BellAmerican patriots began a conflict that spread around the globe.
“What, to the American Slave, Is the Fourth of July?” | Summer 2019, Vol 64, No 3
By Bruce WatsonIn what many consider the greatest anti-slavery oration ever given, Frederick Douglass called for “the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
Classic Essays from the Archives
1619: The Year That Shaped America | Winter 2019, Vol 64, No 1
By James HornFour hundred years ago this year, two momentous events happened in Britain’s fledgling colony in Virginia: the New World’s first democratic assembly convened, and an English privateer brought kidnapped Africans to sell as slaves. Such were the conflicted origins of modern America.
“The Tide is Setting Strongly Against Us” | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4
By Edward L. AyersLincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.
A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Summer 2025, Vol 38, No 4
By Richard B. MorrisThe framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.
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