Person

Peter S. Onuf

Bylines

Jefferson and the Declaration

Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence announced a new epoch in world history, transforming a provincial tax revolt into a great struggle to liberate humanity.

by Peter S. Onuf via American Heritage on January 1, 2020
Fresh Takes on the Declaration of Independence

A new look at the Declaration of Independence from 24 scholars across the country.

by Robert Allison, Seth Cotlar, Manuel Covo, Alejandra Dubcovsky, Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Maya Jasanoff, Robert G. Parkinson, Carla Gardina Pestana, Andrew Schocket, Alexander Tsesis, Zara Anishanslin, Kathleen DuVal, Caitlin Fitz, Annette Gordon-Reed, Tiya Miles, Johann N. Neem, Peter S. Onuf, Steven Pincus, Jack Rakove, Gautham Rao, Claudio Saunt, Karin Wulf, Nicole Eustace, Sarah Georgini via Declaration Resources Project on June 1, 2017
Jefferson: Hero or Villain? It’s Complicated.

An interview with Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S. Onuf.

by Annette Gordon-Reed, Richard Kreitner, Peter S. Onuf via Boston Review on May 19, 2016

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Historians Write About a Different Jefferson Now: Four Books Show How Different

Four new books show how different, and maybe also why.

by S. Richard Gard Jr. via Virginia Magazine on December 1, 2019

Jefferson’s Monticello Finally Gives Sally Hemings Her Place in Presidential History

New exhibits put slavery at the center of Monticello's story, and make it clear that Jefferson was the father of Hemings' children.

by Philip Kennicott via Washington Post on June 13, 2018

Thomas Jefferson and Us

The resurgence of the debate over the Sage of Monticello's legacy: Is Jefferson the ultimate patriot or ultimate hypocrite?

by David Sehat via William and Mary Quarterly on October 1, 2017

Furniture and carpet store in the 1789 Boston directory.

Revolutionary Spirit

On the widespread boycotts of British-made goods in the American Colonies.

via BackStory on December 15, 2016

Person carrying live Thanksgiving turkey

American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

Why Pilgrims would be stunned by our "traditional" Thanksgiving table, and other surprising truths about the invention of our national holiday.

via BackStory on November 25, 2016

Oneida Community members outside their mansion house, ca. 1865-1875.

When We Say “Share Everything,” We Mean Everything

On the Oneida Community, a radical religious organization practicing “Bible communism,” and eventually, manufacturing silverware.

via BackStory on November 17, 2016

Floyd B. McKissick and Kimp Talley stand in front of a tall sign that reads "Soul City."

Soul City

In the 1960s, civil rights activist Floyd McKissick successfully sold President Nixon on an idea of a black built, black-owned community in North Carolina.

via BackStory on November 17, 2016

Godey's Lady's book cover, 1867.

All Hale Thanksgiving

In the 1820s, Sarah Hale, a New England widow and the editor of Godey’s Ladies Book made it her mission to get Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday.

via BackStory on November 15, 2016

Benjamin West's replica of his painting "Reception of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in the Year 1783."

The Loyal Opposition

On the Loyalists who fled during the Revolutionary War – like Jacob Bailey, who saw freedom from tyranny with the British in Nova Scotia.

via BackStory on November 11, 2016

New York City (New York, USA), Brooklyn Bridge.

Over Troubled Waters

Looking for an easy buck, con artists in the early 1900s infamously "sold" the Brooklyn Bridge to immigrants fresh off the boat.

via BackStory on October 20, 2016

Fake 1000 dollar bill.

Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

The story of America's oldest counterfeiters and why the Civil War spurred the Secret Service into hunting them down.

via BackStory on October 20, 2016

Policemen with nightsticks dragging Black man down the street.

The Reason in the Riot

Senator Fred Harris describes his experience on the Kerner Commission, tasked with explaining the causes of urban riots in 1967.

via BackStory on August 18, 2016

A pile of trash on the street in New York, 1911.

The Pig Apple

The story of the thousands of free-range pigs who managed New York’s waste in the 1800s.

via BackStory on August 4, 2016

Delegates at a political convention.

Please (Don’t) Be Seated

The story of an unofficial, integrated delegation from Mississippi that attempted to claim seats at the 1964 Democratic National Convention and was denied.

via BackStory on July 22, 2016

Cannabis sativa plant.

Reefer Madness in Mexico City

Historian Isaac Campos traces the origins of the idea that marijuana causes violent madness…and finds the trail leads south, to Mexico.

via BackStory on May 20, 2016

Sign reading "Is your child vaccinated?"

Contagion

How prior generations of Americans responded to the threat of infectious disease.

via BackStory on February 19, 2016

John Winthrop

Invisible Cities

On John Winthrop’s oft-misunderstood use of the phrase “a city upon a hill” to describe the New World.

via BackStory on January 22, 2016

A painting of Boston harbor, where women in dresses stand on a hill, watching ships

Invisible Cities, Continued

The 19th century recovery of John Winthrop's sermon, "A City on a Hill."

via BackStory on January 22, 2016

Men dumping a barrel of alcohol down the sewer during Prohibition.

Dried Up

How nativism and racism shaped the national movement towards Prohibition.

via BackStory on January 1, 2016

Soldiers in Continental Army

Rumming with the Devil

A perusal of Benjamin Franklin’s "Drinker’s Dictionary," and a chat about how the drink of choice in revolutionary America switched from cider to rum.

via BackStory on January 1, 2016

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