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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!
Leadership of the Founders | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Joseph J. EllisOur nation came into being thanks to an unexpected explosion of political talent in an emerging nation on the fringe of the Atlantic world.
Revolution Song | Fall 2019 - George Washington Prize Books, Vol 64, No 5
By Russell ShortoThe American War for Independence was part of an international trend -- a new focus on the individual that inspired people to new insights, new proclamations, and new assertions of rights.
They Turned the World Upside Down | Winter 2026, Vol 71, No 1
By Richard BellAmerican patriots began a conflict that spread around the globe.
The Shots Heard Round the World | Spring 2025, Vol 70, No 2
By John FerlingWhat 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.
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.
Classic Essays from the Archives
The Conversion of Harry Truman | November 1991, Vol 42, No 7
By William E. LeuchtenburgA child of the South's "Lost Cause," Truman broke with his convictions to make civil rights a concern of the national government for the first time since Reconstruction. In so doing, he changed the nation forever.
“The Miraculous Care Of Providence” | February/March 1982, Vol 33, No 2
By James Thomas FlexnerGeorge Washington’s Narrow Escapes
America: Experiment or Destiny? | June 1977, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3
By Arthur Schlesinger Jr.We can take pride in our nation, not as we pretend to a commission from God and a sacred destiny, but as we struggle to fulfill our deepest values in an inscrutable world.
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