Thomas Jefferson

How a fringe idea made its way from rural France to the heart of American power.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. The 200th wasn’t exactly smooth sailing.

The patriotism embraced by American laborers united immigrant workers across backgrounds, but can that solidarity be reclaimed today?

Courageous and frank communication can echo across history and inspire change long before the world is ready to accept it.

Great leaders succeed by choosing who else leads.

New laws mandating Ten Commandments displays may be upheld via originalism, despite the Constitution’s historically secular foundations.

As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, our founding charter remains central to our national life.

A petition accusing Palestinians’ advocates of committing a “blood libel” occasions a reflection on Solomon Schecter‘s 1909 speech about Abraham Lincoln.

From McCune Smith to Du Bois, Black scholars used data to debunk scientific racism and prove health inequality was social, not biological.

Politics keeps refighting the Founding: Amar says liberals inherit originalism, but that tale smooths 19th-century contradictions.

As America’s 250th anniversary approaches, the president wants to control the country’s future by bulldozing its past.

Critics of Nicolás Maduro's capture would be on much stronger footing if they were originalists.

The Early Republic’s maritime jurisprudence is even more relevant given the immense power of the modern executive.

The 1826 Fourth of July marked America's 50th anniversary with nationwide celebrations, patriotic art, and reflection amid growing national tensions.

Ken Burns’s latest PBS series is long on muskets and bayonets, but the history of the American Revolution remains strangely understated.

Roosevelt’s popularity, charisma, and progressive politics.

A refresher on the original intent of John Quincy Adams's 1823 policy statement in the wake of the recent announcement of the "Trump Corollary."

Americans have looked to the Declaration of Independence when they sought to remedy contemporary problems and create new visions for the country’s future.

Ken Burns has set himself the impossible task of retelling a national origin story that all Americans will embrace as their own.

Ken Burns’s new documentary unpacks the Revolutionary War—and explains why history doesn’t repeat, even if human nature never changes.