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Standing Armies: The Constitutional Debate

Why did Alexander Hamilton and James Madison take up the cause of the very thing that revolutionaries had vehemently opposed?
by Griffin Bovée via Journal of the American Revolution on May 8, 2018
Luther Martin
partner

For Constitution Day, Let's Toast the Losers of the Convention

Anti-federalist Luther Martin's agenda failed at the Constitutional Convention, but his criticisms of the Founders may still resonate with us today.
by Richard Hall via HNN on September 19, 2021
A painting of George Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion.

The Revolutionary Language and Behavior of the Whiskey Rebels

On the continued revolutionary rhetoric and ideology that persisted in America even after the American Revolution.
by Kyler Burd via Journal of the American Revolution on December 10, 2020
partner

Governors Must Hold Firm on Stay-at-Home Orders

Weariness of strong government is a key American tradition. But equally important is the revolutionary idea that national governance should come from the states.
by Liz Covart via Made By History on April 20, 2020

How Did the Constitution Become America’s Authoritative Text?

A new history of the early republic explores the origins of originalism.
by Karen J. Greenberg via The Nation on February 7, 2019

Mapping the First Decade of Congressional Elections

Using maps to visualize the first five U.S. Congressional elections.
by Sheila Brennan via Mapping Early American Elections on December 13, 2017

Where Did the Term 'Gerrymander' Come From?

Elbridge Gerry was a powerful voice in the founding of the nation, but today he's best known for the political practice with an amphibious origin.
by Erick Trickey via Smithsonian on July 20, 2017

The Woman Whose Words Inflamed the American Revolution

Mercy Otis Warren used her wit to agitate for independence.
by Erick Trickey via Smithsonian on June 20, 2017

How the ‘Hamilton Effect’ Distorts the Founders

Too often, we look to history not to understand it, but to seek out confirmation for our preexisting beliefs. That’s a problem.
by Mike Lee via Politico Magazine on May 30, 2017
Lithograph of the reservoir of the Manhattan Water Works in 1825.
partner

Corporations in the Early Republic

An explanation of the Manhattan Company, a bank disguised as a municipal water corporation that helped to transform Early Republican politics.
via BackStory on June 20, 2014
President Roosevelt signs the proclamation naming December 15 as Bill of Rights Day.

The Reinvention of the Bill of Rights

The New Deal-era creation of “Bill of Rights Day” obscures the real nature and guardrails of American liberty.
by Jerome C. Foss via Law & Liberty on December 13, 2024
Title page and verso of a 1727 printing of Plutarch's Lives

"Those Noble Qualities": Classical Pseudonyms as Reflections of Divergent Republican Value Systems

Writing under ancient veneers allowed partisans to politicize and weaponize ancient history during the turbulent start of the Federal Republic.
by Shawn David McGhee via Journal of the American Revolution on August 3, 2023
Cover of "Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance To Federal Power"

The Little Man’s Big Friends

A new book seeks to explain why many Americans, especially but not exclusively in the South, have understood freedom as an entitlement for white people.
by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on May 24, 2023
A painting of the American Founders at the Constitutional Convention.

Inventing American Constitutionalism

On "Power and Liberty," a condensed version of Gordon Wood's entire sweep of scholarship about constitutionalism.
by Gordon S. Wood, Brian A. Smith via Law & Liberty on March 10, 2023
The Capitol Building in ruins within a US-shaped crater.

Why Our Country Is Too Big Not to Fail

Maybe the United States was doomed from the start. And Jean-Jacques Rousseau can explain why.
by Matthew Sitman via The New Republic on December 6, 2022
Timeline of the history of American political parties to 1880, depicting intertwined streams of Democrats, Whigs, and Republicans.
original

What is Political Realignment?

An annotated collection of resources from the Bunk archive that help explain the shifting sands of American politics.
by Kathryn Ostrofsky on September 8, 2022
Political cartoon of Albert Gallatin attempting to stop a chariot driven by George Washington.

Nativism, Conspiracy Theories, and Mobs in Federalist America

Many people celebrate the U.S. as a nation of immigrants, but nativism has infused its politics from the outset.
by Sean P. Harvey via The Panorama on December 14, 2021
Painting of Lincoln and his cabinet by M.S. Carpenter, 1863.

Did the Constitution Pave the Way to Emancipation?

In his new book, The Crooked Path to Abolition, James Oakes argues that the Constitution was an antislavery document.
by Richard Kreitner via The Nation on October 6, 2021
A portrait of John Tyler.

Grandson of President John Tyler, Who Left Office in 1845, Dies at Age 95

Born 14 years after the nation's founding, the tenth commander-in-chief still has one living grandson.
by Livia Gershon via Smithsonian on October 6, 2020

Our Chief Danger

The story of the democratic movements that the framers of the U.S. Constitution feared and sought to suppress.
by William Hogeland via Lapham’s Quarterly on September 1, 2020

Tear Down This Statue

The shameful career of Roger Sherman, mild-mannered Yankee.
by Richard Kreitner via The Baffler on July 6, 2020

The Late Murray Rothbard Takes on the Constitution

A lost volume of American history finds the light of day.
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel via Reason on April 20, 2020
QAnon sign in a crowd of Trump supporters at a DeSantis rally.
partner

Why Americans Turn to Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories have been a central feature in American politics since before the Revolution.
by Rachel Hope Cleves via Made By History on October 21, 2019

The Fourth Battle for the Constitution

The latest struggle to define America's founding charter will define the country for generations to come.
by Jeffrey Rosen via The Atlantic on September 25, 2019
George Washington is depicted in the 1856 painting "George Washington Addressing the Constitutional Convention" by Junius Brutus Stearns.

‘The President Himself May Be Guilty’: Why Pardons Were Hotly Debated By The Founding Fathers

The Mueller report raised the issue the Constitution’s framers feared in 1787: abuse of presidential power.
by Erick Trickey via Retropolis on April 21, 2019

What America Gets Wrong About Three Important Words in the Second Amendment

The NRA misquotes George Mason to support its own view of "well-regulated militia."
by Robyn Pennacchia via Quartz on February 24, 2018
original

How We Learned to Love the Bill the Rights

A new book argues that the fetishization of the first ten amendments is a recent thing – and that it comes at a cost.
by Sara Mayeux on February 8, 2018

How the NRA Rewrote the Second Amendment

The Founders never intended to create an unregulated individual right to a gun.
by Michael Waldman via Politico Magazine on May 19, 2014

Founding Fathers, Founding Villains

A review of a handful of new books that embody the new liberal originalism.
by William Hogeland via Boston Review on September 1, 2012
Lithograph of James Madison from Portrait and Biographical Album of Washtenaw County, Michigan, 1891, Wikimedia.

The Founders’ Muddled Legacy on the Right to Bear Arms Is Killing Us

A case of 18th-century politicking has stymied our ability to deal with a 21st-century crisis.
by William Hogeland via AlterNet on August 14, 2012
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