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Featured Essays
While Robert Morris is remembered as the "financier of the Revolution," his partner and former boss, Thomas Willing, has been lost to history despite his own contributions to early American business and finance.
Decades before the Ayatollah, even before the shah, early Americans found themselves enchanted with Iranian culture, politics, and history.
By organizing weekly gatherings of political leaders and citizens, she proved democracy works best when rivals see one another as human beings.
William Seward's 1868 attempt to acquire the Danish territory was the country's first, but not the last.
America 250!
Lafayette: A Hero Among Heroes | Summer 2021, Vol 65, No 5
By Harlow Giles UngerNo figure in the Revolutionary era inspired as much affection and reverence as Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette
Did Hurricanes Save America? | September 2020, Vol 65, No 5
By Eric Jay DolinThe outcome of the American Revolution may have been affected by catastrophic storms in the deadliest hurricane season in recorded history.
“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.
American Rebels at Sea | Summer 2022, Vol 67, No 3
By Eric Jay DolinAn estimated 1500 privateering ships played a crucial role in winning the American Revolution, but their contributions are often forgotten.
Knox Brings Cannon and Victory to General Washington | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4
By Edwin S. GrosvenorSetting out 250 years ago this month, Henry Knox’s “Noble Train” carried 60 tons of desperately needed artillery to help patriots oust British forces from Boston.
Classic Essays from the Archives
The Day The Civil War Ended | June/July 1978, Vol 29, No 4
By Bruce CattonAt the Gettysburg reunion fifty years after the battle, it was no longer blue and gray. Now it was all gray.
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.
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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