March 2024

“One of the great truths of history is that no past event was preordained,” wrote David McCullough in American Heritage. “Every battle, election, and revolution could have turned out differently at any point along the way.”

Proof of that observation is the number of times that John Glover and his Marblehead regiment saved George Washington and the fledgling American army from disaster, described so well in this issue by historian Patrick K. O’Donnell.

Their courage and sacrifice made a crucial difference in winning the American Revolution, and enabling us to live in a free, democratic, and prosperous country.

Editor's Note: Elisabeth Griffith is the author of two acclaimed books on women's history, Formidable: American Women and the Fight for Equality: 1920–2020 and In Her Own Right: the Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She has a PhD in history.

Editor’s Note: Mr. Manville researches and writes about the history of democracy and the future of free societies, after a distinguished career in knowledge management for McKinsey & Co and SABA. Together with Stanford professor Josiah Ober, he recently published a thoughtful book with ideas on how to renew our democracy, The Civic Bargain: How Democracy Survives. Like many observers, they have grown concerned about the state of civic education, but also offer solutions.

There is a long tradition of civic education in America, encompassing both informal and formal learning. Literacy rates in colonial America were high in comparison to contemporary monarchical and autocratic countries. Literacy promoted knowledge of current events and ancient history. It fostered the culture of critical thought, reasoned argument, and frank debate that was a precondition for the revolution.