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Featured Essays
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, our founding charter remains central to our national life, unifying us and paving the way for what we have long called “the American Dream.”
America’s extraordinary success is directly related to its unique form of government embodied in the Constitution.
America 250!
“Shall We Have a King?” | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4
By William E. LeuchtenburgSome delegates at the Constitutional Convention wanted a strong executive, while others feared the American president might become a king.
Why Is the American Revolution So Important? | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Jack D. WarrenOur nation is free because, 250 years ago, brave men and women fought a war to establish the independence of the United States and created a system of government to protect the freedom of its citizens.
John Dickinson: Forgotten Founder | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4
By Jane E. CalvertDickinson played a pivotal role in our Nation’s founding, from the Stamp Act to ratifying the Constitution, but his contributions are largely forgotten by history.
With Little Less Than Savage Fury | Fall 2010, Vol 60, No 3
By Thomas B. AllenAmerica’s first civil war took place during the Revolution, an ultra-violent, family-splitting, and often vindictive conflict between "patriots" and loyalists.
“The Die is Now Cast” | November/December 2024, Vol 69, No 5
By Joseph J. EllisAmerican resistance to British authority developed with stunning speed 250 years ago in response to George III’s inflexibility.
Classic Essays from the Archives
FDR and His Women | March 2003, Summer 2025, Vol 54, No 1
By Ellen FeldmanA 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.
Herbert Hoover Describes the Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson | June 1958, Vol 9, No 4
By Herbert HooverThe great tragedy of the twenty-eighth President as witnessed by his loyal lieutenant, the thirty-first.
Lincoln As Commander in Chief | Winter 2009, Summer 2025, Vol 58, No 6
By James M. McPhersonEven though he had no military training, Lincoln quickly rose to become one of America’s most talented commanders.
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