Filter by:

Filter by published date

Viewing 31–60 of 119 results. Go to first page
Wallpaper printed in support of the Constitutional Union Party’s presidential candidate, John Bell, in 1860.

A Constitution of Freedom

During the 1860 presidential election, political parties dueled over the intent of the framers.
Side-by-side of Josh Hawley and David Atchison

Josh Hawley Is Not the First Missouri Senator with Blood on His Hands

The Bleeding Kansas parallels with our current moment get weirder and darker.
Picture of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

On Abraham Lincoln’s Convoluted Plan For the Abolition of Slavery

Although he did not openly endorse every one of the many precepts of the antislavery Constitution, Lincoln framed his positions entirely within its parameters.
Drawing of people picking cotton at a plantation

A Few Random Thoughts on Capitalism and Slavery

Historian James Oakes offers a critique of the New History of Capitalism.
Book cover of the Three Cornered War, featuring a southwestern desert landscape.

A Different Civil War in the Southwest

A riveting new book shows how the Civil War in the West was both strategically important and lacking in the moral contours of the broader war.

One Week to Save Democracy

Lessons from Frederick Douglass on the tortured relationship between protest and change.
John Tyler.

Two on John Tyler: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!

After the Whig president’s shocking death, his vice president and successor proved to be a Whig by expedience only

Missouri Compromised

Anti-slavery protest during the Missouri statehood debate.

California's Forgotten Slave History

San Bernardino, California's early success rested on a pair of seemingly incongruous forces: Mormonism and slavery.
African-American cowboys in Bonham, Texas, circa 1913

The Real Texas

What is Texas? Should we even think about so large and diverse a place as having an essence that can be distilled?

The Anti-Slavery Constitution

From the Framers on, Americans have understood our fundamental law to oppose ownership of persons.

Slavery's Explosive Growth, in Charts: How '20 and Odd' Became Millions

A twist of fate brought the first Africans to Virginia in 1619. See how slavery grew in the U.S. over two centuries.
1857 map of the United States, showing slave versus free states.

How Slavery Doomed Limited Government in America

It made it impossible to limit the size and scope of the federal government. Conservatives need to recognize that.
partner

Lines in the Sand

Ed Ayers visits with public historians in Texas and explores what's wrong with remembering the Alamo as the beginning of Texas history.
Painting by Titus Kaphar entitled "Page 4 of Jefferson’s ‘Farm Book"

How Proslavery Was the Constitution?

A review of a book by Sean Wilentz's "No Property in Man," which argues that the document is full of anti-slavery language.

Antislavery Wasn’t Mainstream, Until It Was

After Republicans lost their first election in 1856, Democrats declared slavery opposition radical and fringe. Then came 1860.

When Kansas Was Bleeding

How the territory became the frontline of the battle for abolition.

The Alamo Is a Rupture

It’s time to reckon with the true history of the mythologized Texas landmark—and the racism and imperialism it represents.

America Descends Into the Politics of Rage

Trump and other peddlers of angry rhetoric may reap short-term gains, but history suggests they will provoke a fearsome backlash.

Raising Cane

The violence on Capitol Hill that foreshadowed a bloody war.

Dred Scott Strains the Mystic Chords

Dred Scott was an opportunity to settle what the South had previously been unable to achieve either legislatively or judicially.

Confederate Revisionist History

Americans should not honor a revolt to uphold slavery with monuments or florid displays.

The Revival of John Quincy Adams

The sixth president, long derided as a hapless elitist, is suddenly relevant again 250 years after his birth.
partner

A Party in Secret Passes an Overwhelmingly Unpopular Law. We’ve Been Here Before.

It ended in disaster.

The Making of an Antislavery President

Fred Kaplan's new book asks why it took Abraham Lincoln so long to embrace emancipation.
A political cartoon showing two figures leading donkeys in opposite directions. The donkeys are depicted with the faces of Zachary Taylor and Henry Clay.

Prospects for Partisan Realignment: Lessons from the Demise of the Whigs

What America’s last major party crack-up in the 1850s tells us about the 2010s.
partner

Upheaval at the 1860 Democratic Convention: What Happened When a Party Split

Some issues are too fundamental for a party to withstand, and the consequences can last for a generation.

Andrew Jackson was A Slaver, Ethnic Cleanser, and Tyrant

Andrew Jackson deserves nothing but contempt from modern America, not a place on our currency.

A Topic Best Avoided

After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln faced the issue of sorting out a nation divided over the issue of freed slaves. But what were his views on it?

Slave Voyages

This digital memorial raises questions about the largest slave trades in history and offers access to the documentation available to answer them.

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person