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Featured Essays
Recent rehabilitation of this important site at the Gettysburg battlefield provides a much improved experience for visitors.
A Chinatown cook's fight to re-enter the U.S. in 1895 went up to the Supreme Court, which upheld his claim to birthright citizenship and guaranteed it for all through the 14th Amendment.
Dickinson 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.
Some delegates at the Constitutional Convention wanted a strong executive, while others feared the American president might become a king.
America 250!
"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Douglas BrinkleyBadly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.
“Boston Harbor a Tea-pot This Night!” | Spring 2024, Vol 69, No 2
By Benjamin CarpThe dumping of tons of tea in protest set the stage for the American Revolution and was a window on the culture and attitudes of the time.
Big Guns For Washington | April 1955, Vol 6, No 3
By Clay PerryHow tough Henry Knox hauled a train of cannon over wintry trails to help drive the British away from Boston
Drama at the Old North Bridge | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2
By Rick Atkinson“Now the war has begun and no one knows when it will end,” said one minuteman after the fight.
The Revolution Could Have Started Here | Summer 2024, Vol 69, No 3
By Bob ThompsonAt a curious stone tower in Somerville, Massachusetts, panic in 1774 could have sparked a war seven months before Lexington and Concord entered the history books.
Classic Essays from the Archives
On History | February 1964, Vol 15, No 2
By John F. Kennedy"Americans are united by their history and by a faith in progress, justice, and freedom," writes President Kennedy
FDR and His Women | March 2003, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
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.
Finding the Real Jamestown | Winter 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By William M. KelsoThe archaeologist who discovered the real Jamestown debunks myths, and answers age-old mysteries about North America's first successful English colony.
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