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James Madison Would Like a Few Words on Trade Wars

The fourth president tried all kinds of sanctions to open markets, but still ended up in the War of 1812.

3 Ways to Think About the American Revolution

The complex combination of grievances that fueled the war had to do with taxes, class, and nationalism.

Policing the Colony: From the American Revolution to Ferguson

King George's tax collectors abused police powers to fill his coffers. Sound familiar?
Skull and crossbones with message reading "This is the place to affix the STAMP."
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Paying Up: A History of Taxation

From the Stamp Act of 1765 to the Tea Party Movement, how have – and haven't – American attitudes about taxes changed over time?
Income tax form

Tax Time

Why we pay.
Alexander Hamilton, with superimposed map of Atlantic world.

The Return of Hamiltonian Statecraft

A grand strategy for a turbulent world.
William McKinley

Trump Is Right About McKinley

“The most underrated president” was a model of successful governance in a world in flux.
J. D. Vance speaking at a campaign rally for Donald Trump.

J. D. Vance Is Summoning the John Birch Society

Far from a novel form of populism, J. D. Vance’s appeals are indistinguishable from the economic vision of the 1970s John Birch Society.
Old picture of Union soldiers holding a pot of coffee.

How Coffee Helped the Union Caffeinate Their Way to Victory in the Civil War

The North’s fruitful partnership with Liberian farmers fueled a steady supply of an essential beverage.
Law and Political Economy Project

Recovering the Left-Wing Free Trade Tradition

Free trade has been defended primarily by neoliberals who cared little about social justice or democracy. An examination of its history paints a different picture.
Collage depicting shipping containers, a scale weighing American dollars, and a screen of numbers and percentages

Free Trade's Origin Myth

American elites accepted the economic theory of "comparative advantage" mainly because it justified their geopolitical agenda.
CEO Eli Black (middle) talking with farmers at a lettuce farm.

The Banana King Who (Tried to) Put People Over Profits

1970s United Fruit CEO Eli Black got caught between the warring ideals of ‘social responsibility’ and shareholder gains.
James K. Polk.

The President Who Did It All in One Term — and What Biden Could Learn From Him

James K. Polk is considered one of the most successful presidents, even though he did not seek reelection.
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.
Ronald Reagan pointing at a graph explaining his tax policy.
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Inflation Opened the Door to American Neoliberalism

An excerpt from "The Hidden History of Neoliberalism."
Whole Wheat Shell Pasta on Grey, by artist Rachel Doom, 2019.

Wielding Wheat

A new history makes a case for the world-ordering power of wheat.
Stock photo of tomatoes.

The Southern Story of Tomatoes

Tales of the treasured South American-born, Southern-bred vegetable (yes, vegetable).
Norman Mailer, left, with Jimmy Breslin, in the garment district of New York during his 1969 race for mayor.

Secessionist City

While New York has yet to break away from the rest of the country, it's not for lack of trying.
Depiction of an agricultural fair with crowds of people gathered around exhibit halls.

Slavery, Technology and the Social Origins of the US Agricultural State

Ariel Ron discusses the rise of the agricultural state in his book, Grassroots Leviathan: Agricultural Reform and the Rural North in the Slaveholding Republic.
Illustration of Jon Meacham

The Man Who Loved Presidents

A review of Jon Meacham's newest book and documentary.

Daniel Webster, Yankee National Conservative

What 'the forgotten man of American conservatism' has to say about current debates on the right.

When Adding New States Helped the Republicans

DC statehood would be a modest ploy compared with the mass admission of underpopulated western territories.

In Search of George Washington Carver’s True Legacy

The famed agriculturalist deserves to be known for much more than peanuts.

Trump’s Nineteenth-Century Grand Strategy

The themes of his UN General Assembly speech have deep roots in U.S. history.

Can History Avoid Conspiracy?

Historians still lack a good way to define, discuss, and address historical actions that appear to be "conspiracies."
U.S. government medical marijuana crop at University of Mississippi.
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Jeff Sessions is a Hypocrite on States’ Rights. But So is Everyone Else.

Champions of states' rights love federal power when it suits their goals — like Sessions's anti-marijuana crusade.
House destroyed by hurricane in Puerto Rico.
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Decisions More Than a Century Ago Explain Why The U.S. Has Failed Puerto Rico in Its Time of Need

Fears about trade prompted the decision to make Puerto Rico a colony.
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.

An Enemy Until You Need a Friend

The role of "big government" in American history.

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