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Featured Essays
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.
A private pilot named Kenneth Arnold kicked off a worldwide craze when he claimed he saw a string of shiny saucers fly past Mount Rainier in 1947.
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.
America 250!
They Turned the World Upside Down | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Richard BellAmerican patriots began a conflict that spread around the globe.
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.
Memory and America’s Birthday | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Wilfred M. McClayWhile 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.
“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.
Drama on Dorchester Heights: Washington’s First Victory | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Edward J. LarsonThe American patriots came up with a bold plan to force the British out of Boston 250 years ago this month.
Classic Essays from the Archives
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.
Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other? | Fall 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Annette Gordon-ReedTo call it a loaded question does not begin to do justice to the matter, given America’s tortured racial history and its haunting legacy.
Two Intimate Enemies | September 2000, Summer 2025, Vol 51, No 5
By Joseph J. EllisWhen John Adams was elected president, and Thomas Jefferson as vice president, each came to see the other as a traitor. Out of their enmity grew our modern political system.
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