AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

What began as a civil war within the British Empire continued until it became a wider conflict affecting peoples and countries across Europe and North America.

The Forgotten Battle of Menotomy

by Michael Ruderman

Overshadowed in memory by Lexington and Concord, the Massachusetts town of Menotomy saw the most violent and deadly fighting on April 19, 1775.

Introduction: Revisiting Concord and Lexington

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

This special issue looks at the dramatic and momentous events that occurred 250 years ago this month.

Drama at the Old North Bridge

by Rick Atkinson

“Now the war has begun and no one knows when it will end,” said one minuteman after the fight.

Discovered: First Maps of the American Revolution

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

Previously unknown, a map drawn by Lord Percy, the British commander at Lexington, sheds new light on the perilous retreat to Boston 250 years ago this month.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

FDR and His Women | March 2003, Vol 54, No 1

By Ellen Feldman

A novelist who has just spent several years studying Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucy Rutherfurd, and Missy LeHand tells a moving story of love: public and private, given and withheld.

“Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead” | August 1959, Vol 70, No 3

By Barbara W. Tuchman

John Hay’s ringing phrase helped nominate T. R., but it covered an embarrassing secret that remained concealed for thirty years.

Columbus and Genocide | October 1975, Vol 26, No 6

By Edward T. Stone

The discoverer of the New World was responsible for the annihilation of the peaceful Arawak Indians

Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other? | Fall 2008, Vol 70, No 3

By Annette Gordon-Reed

To call it loaded question does not begin to do justice to the matter, given America’s tortured racial history and its haunting legacy.

Who Invented Scalping? | April 1977, Vol 28, No 3

By James Axtell

In recent years many voices—both Native-American and white—have questioned whether Indians did in fact invent scalping. What is the evidence?

America: Experiment or Destiny? | June 1977, Vol 70, No 3

By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

We can take pride in our nation, not as we pretend to a commission from God and a sacred destiny, but as we struggle to fulfill our deepest values in an inscrutable world.

Today in History

Johnson acquitted in impeachment trial

The Senate cannot reach a 2/3 majority vote, acquitting President Andrew Johnson of eleven articles of impeachment. His impeachment stemmed from the dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, which violated the recently-instituted Tenure of Office Act. The measure fell one vote short of conviction and after two subsequent unsuccessul votes, Johnson remained in office.
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Sedition Act of 1918 passes

President Woodrow Wilson signs the Sedition Act of 1918 into law, making it illegal to use profane or malicious language towards the United States government. The act, passed in the context of World War I, amended the Espionage Act of 1917, which punished Americans citizens who worked with unfriendly foreign governments or interfered with military recruitment and the sale of war bonds.
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First Oscars

The first Academy Awards are given out at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood, honoring outstanding achievements in film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had already announced the winners three months prior, and the First Academy Awards was the only ceremony not on the radio or television.