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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.”

American patriots began a conflict that spread around the globe.

The Rule of Law is the great foundation of our Constitution and our Nation. 

America’s extraordinary success is directly related to its unique form of government embodied in the Constitution.

America 250!

Knox Brings Cannon and Victory to General Washington | Fall 2025, Vol 70, No 4

By Edwin S. Grosvenor

Setting 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.

knox train

American Rebels at Sea | Summer 2022, Vol 67, No 3

By Eric Jay Dolin

An estimated 1500 privateering ships played a crucial role in winning the American Revolution, but their contributions are often forgotten.

privateers

Memory and America’s Birthday | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1

By Wilfred M. McClay

While we “know” more and more about the American past, too many of our citizens are ignorant of who we are and where we came from.

washington dc fireworks

The Shots Heard Round the World | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2

By John Ferling

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.

shots heard round the world

Rethinking the Boston Massacre | Special Issue - George Washington Prize 2018, Vol 63, No 2

By Eric Hinderaker

It is one of the most notorious incidents in American history, and also one of the least understood.

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Classic Essays from the Archives

"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Summer 2025, Vol 59, No 4

By Douglas Brinkley

Badly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.

boston tea party

Alice Paul: “I Was Arrested, Of Course…” | February 1974, Summer 2025, Vol 25, No 2

By Robert S. Gallagher

An interview with the famed suffragette, Alice Paul

alice paul

Growing Up Colored | Summer 2012, Summer 2025, Vol 62, No 2

By Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The noted writer and educator tells of his boyhood in the West Virginia town of Piedmont, where African Americans were second-class citizens, but family pride ran deep.

Henry Louis Gates and family

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