Bylines

Matthew E. Stanley

Mirror images of General James Longstreet.

How a Die-Hard Confederate General Became a Civil Rights–Supporting Republican

James Longstreet became an apostate for supporting black civil rights during Reconstruction.
Cover of a book on President Bill Clinton's failures.

The Left Can’t Stop Wondering Where Bill Clinton Went Wrong. The Answer Explains a Lot.

Clinton’s role in decoupling the Democratic Party from mainstream labor, first in Arkansas and then nationally, had dire consequences.
Framed photograph of an African-American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters, circa 1863–1865.

Means-Testing Is the Foe of Freedom

After Emancipation, Black people fought for public benefits like pensions that would make their newly won citizenship meaningful.
Illustration of Abraham Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation.

Abraham Lincoln Is a Hero of the Left

Leftists have regarded Lincoln as a pro-labor hero who helped vanquish chattel slavery. We should celebrate him today within the radical democratic tradition.
Collage including the Statue of Liberty, Donald Trump, and the U.S. flag.

The Habit America’s Historians Just Can’t Give Up

If fact-checking could fix us, we’d be a utopia by now.
Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The Failure of Reconstruction Is to Blame for the Weakness of American Democracy

A new book argues that the American right emerged out of a backlash to multiracial democracy following the Civil War.
Thaddeus Stevens

The Radicalism of Thaddeus Stevens

Thaddeus Stevens understood far better than most that fully uprooting slavery meant overthrowing the South’s economic system and challenging property rights.

Lincoln’s Paramilitaries, the “Wide Awakes,” Helped Bring About a Political Revolution

In 1860, a novel paramilitary-style organization mobilized hundreds of thousands against the Southern planter class.