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J. Edgar Hoover (center) with President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, February 23, 1961.

J. Edgar Hoover Tried to Destroy the Left — and Liberals Enabled Him

The author of a new biography explains how liberals played an important role in enabling Hoover’s antidemocratic crusade.
by Beverly Gage, Michael Brenes via Jacobin on November 28, 2022
Federal Reserve Note featuring Salmon Chase held by the National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

The War with Inflation and the Confederacy

During the Civil War, the Lincoln administration demonstrated that a progressive agenda and effective anti-inflationary measures could overlap.
by Andrew Donnelly via Public Books on September 20, 2022
Photo of Abraham Lincoln in front of images of infrastructure and currency.

How the U.S. Paid for the Civil War

Lincoln's wartime governance had dire, and longstanding, economic consequences.
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel via Reason on September 17, 2022
A vacant home surrounded by a chain link fence is seen in Los Angeles, February 16, 2010.

Why Obama-Era Economists Are So Mad About Student Debt Relief

It exposes their failed mortgage debt relief policies after the Great Recession.
by David Dayen, Lindsay Owens via The American Prospect on August 31, 2022
A climate change activist stands outside the home of Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) on June 30, 2022 in Washington, DC.

A Return To Nineteenth-Century Style Regulation?

In an era of laissez-faire governance, a growing number of federal and state regulations were justified as necessary to protect public health and morality.
by Matthew Wills, Susan J. Pearson via JSTOR Daily on July 16, 2022
President William Howard Taft signs New Mexico into statehood at the White House. The signing was witnessed by dignitaries on Jan. 6, 1912

Building Uncle Sam, Inc.

These Progressive Era Republicans wanted to run the Federal government like a business.
by Paul Moreno via Law & Liberty on May 25, 2022
Artistic painting showing President Truman (depicted with glasses) in the foreground, and a sketch of President Biden in the background. The two figures are surrounded by America's colors and stars from the American flag.

What Joe Biden Can Learn From Harry Truman

His approval rating hit historic lows, his party was fractious, crises were everywhere. But Truman rescued his presidency, and his legacy.
by John Dickerson via The Atlantic on March 1, 2022
A political cartoon lampooning the “robber baron” monopolists’ exploitation of laborers, 1883

When Americans Liked Taxes

The idea of liberty has often seemed to mean freedom from government and its spending. But there is an alternate history, one just as foundational and defining.
by Gary Gerstle via New York Review of Books on February 23, 2022
Protest sign reading "We never left Jim Crow."

Voter Fraud Propagandists Are Recycling Jim Crow Rhetoric

The conservative plot to suppress the Black vote has relied on racist caricatures, then and now.
by Nick Tabor via The New Republic on February 4, 2022
Painting of the constitutional convention

Federalism and the Founders

The question of how to balance state and national power was perhaps the single most important and most challenging question confronting the early republic.
by Allen C. Guelzo via National Affairs on January 7, 2022
A print based on David Gilmour Blythe's fanciful painting of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation: Annotated

Abraham Lincoln proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in America on January 1, 1863. Today, we've annotated the Emancipation Proclamation for readers.
by Abraham Lincoln via JSTOR Daily on January 1, 2022
Sketch of the ‘Rising Sun’ design carved in the armchair used by George Washington during the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

A Rising or Setting Sun

A review of how Dennis Rasmussen understands America's Founding Fathers and their disillusions with the American experiment.
by Kenly Stewart via Los Angeles Review of Books on December 9, 2021

We Can’t Blame the South Alone for Anti-Tax Austerity Politics

The legacy of slavery is often invoked to explain the stunted welfare state. But the strongest resistance to taxation and redistribution came from the Northern ruling class.
by Noam Maggor via Jacobin on November 15, 2021
Congresswoman going on the Senate floor in Washington D.C.
partner

The Founders Constructed Our Government to Foster Inaction

Why Democrats have struggled to implement their agenda.
by Calvin Schermerhorn via Made By History on October 28, 2021
President Madison ending the Embargo Act cartoon

James Madison and the Debilitating American Tendency to Make Everything About the Constitution

The U.S. Constitution was the reason for Madison and Hamilton's breakup.
by William Hogeland via Hogeland's Bad History on October 11, 2021
A construction machine lifts giants stacks of paper money.

The U.S. Is Politically Bankrupt

For political reasons, powerful people don’t want the country to pay its bills. History shows all that could go wrong.
by Rebecca L. Spang via The Atlantic on October 8, 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
Image of John C. Calhoun

How Slavery Haunts Today’s Big Debates About Federal Spending

John C. Calhoun knew what a strong federal government might do.
by Ariel Ron via Slate on September 22, 2021
Photo of Jefferson Davis

The Southern Slaveholders Dreamed of a Slaveholding Empire

Antebellum slaveholders weren't content with an economic and social system based on trafficking in human flesh in the South alone.
by Arvind Dilawar, Kevin Waite via Jacobin on September 21, 2021
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
Painting of George Washington on horseback, leading troops through the countryside to squash the Whiskey Rebellion.

Examining Public Opinion during the Whiskey Rebellion

This armed uprising in 1794, over taxation by the fledgling new government, threatened to destroy the new union within six years of the Constitution’s ratification.
by Jonathan Curran via Journal of the American Revolution on September 7, 2021
Biden in front of George Washington painting
partner

A Conflict Among the Founders is Still Shaping Infrastructure Debates in 2021

What role should the federal government play in building our infrastructure?
by Susan Nagel via Made By History on August 30, 2021
Painting of the Continental Congress

The Pursuit of Happiness: New Approaches to the American Revolutionary Past

A new way to think about the American Revolution.
by Kevin Diestelow via Journal of the History of Ideas Blog on June 28, 2021
Book cover of "When Good Government Meant Big Government," with text and red and blue stripes in the style of campaign signs.

When Good Government Meant Big Government

An interview with Jesse Tarbert about the history of the American state, “big government,” and the legacy of government reform efforts.
by Jesse Tarbert via Law & History Review on June 16, 2021
The plough, the loom and the anvil book drawing

In the Common Interest

How a grassroots movement of farmers laid the foundation for state intervention in the economy, challenging the slaveholding South.
by Nic Johnson, Chris Hong, Robert Manduca via Boston Review on May 18, 2021
A map of Georgia's Yazoo land divided between companies.

How the Yazoo Land Scandal Changed American History

Without the now-obscure land investment affair, Georgia might have been a "super state."
by Frank Jacobs via Big Think on April 19, 2021
President Biden in a warehouse
partner

Government Has Always Picked Winners and Losers

A welfare state doesn't distort the market; it just makes government aid fairer.
by David M. P. Freund via Made By History on March 29, 2021
John C. Calhoun

American Heretic, American Burke

A review of Robert Elder's new biography of John C. Calhoun.
by Allen C. Guelzo via The New Criterion on February 4, 2021
Ulysses S. Grant statue in front of the capitol
partner

Grant — Not Lincoln or Roosevelt — May Hold the Key to Biden’s Success

Biden needs to stare down White supremacy, which requires strenuous enforcement of the laws.
by Judith Giesberg via Made By History on February 3, 2021
Black and White photo of demonstrators

When Medicare Helped Kill Jim Crow

By making health care broadly available, the government helps ensure our freedom.
by Mike Konczal via The Nation on January 19, 2021
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