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"The happiness of America is intimately tied to the happiness of all humanity," the young Marquis de Lafayette wrote in 1777. His comment suggests the immediate and the long-range impact of a revolution that was one of the first...
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The Constitution does not spell out the duties or define the powers of a president’s spouse, yet America’s "first ladies" have, from the beginning of our nation, played key roles as public figures. They have set precedents,...
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Some of the most powerful political statements in American history appear in the inaugural addresses of our presidents. In crises and in moments of social and cultural change, in wartime and peace, the president we have elected speaks...
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If the Civil War is the most significant event of our national history, the Battle of Gettysburg is surely its most memorable moment. For this issue of History Now, we asked our contributors to provide novel perspectives and new...
Take a Teacher’s Tour of the Battle of Gettysburg
Historian Matthew Pinsker leads a teacher’s tour of the Battle of Gettysburg, highlighting key moments and individuals to illustrate the broad story of the battle, its implications for the Civil War, and its legacy in American history...
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Hank Williams sang about the lonely sound of a train whistle in the night. Iconic photographs capture the laying of the last rail. Countless movies and books set their adventures aboard railroad cars. Despite the advent of airplanes...
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From Virgil to Shakespeare to Walt Whitman, poets have often turned to historical subjects for their topic, preserving historical events and figures in verse. This poetry, in turn, becomes the subject of historical inquiry as scholars...
His Excellency General Washington
SIR, I Have taken the freedom to address your Excellency in the enclosed poem, and entreat your acceptance, though I am not insensible of its inaccuracies. Your being appointed by the Grand Continental Congress to be Generalissimo of...
I Hear America Singing
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work...
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Sharks raining down on Los Angeles, zombies menacing their neighbors, strange aliens invading earth’s cities, prehistoric creatures chasing shipwrecked travelers . . . Americans thrill to stories of disaster. Whether man-made or...
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The abolition of slavery, the granting of woman suffrage, and the end to legal racial segregation came about because reformers were willing to challenge social norms and public policies in the streets, the courts, and the halls of...
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In most major American cities today, Chinatowns are magnets for tourists and local people eager to enjoy dim sum and Hunan beef or to browse in the shops that line the streets of these enclaves. Non-Chinese Americans join the crowds...
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It is a rare war movie or novel that does not include a mail call scene. News from home, packages filled with cookies or favorite foods, drawings by sons or daughters folded in with letters from husbands, wives, or family members...
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Hamilton! This is his moment. After years of being overlooked when Americans named the members of that pantheon known as "the Founding Fathers," Alexander Hamilton has finally become a star. Literally. It took a talented young rapper...
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Most of us rely on written sources in our teaching, but we know there are many mediums and genres through which the story of our nation can be told. In this issue, History Now focuses on one of these: reading our past through the...
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Every war produces its heroes, but the heroic African American men and women who helped carry America to victories have too often been forgotten. In this issue of History Now scholars and journalists join together to add black...
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During the war for independence, the first major fundraising drive in American history was mounted in Philadelphia. As the two Pennsylvanians who conceived of the drive knew, this effort to raise funds for Washington’s army would...
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Our Summer 2017 issue looks at the two great musical traditions that come out of the African American culture of the South: jazz and the blues. These uniquely American genres are known throughout the world and, although they began...
The Road to Revolution
The Peace of Paris (February 10, 1763) marked a glorious moment in the history of the British Empire. France surrendered Canada, ending more than a century of warfare on the northern frontier. At the time, no one seriously thought...
The New Nation, 1783–1815
The leaders of the American Revolution made three great gambles. First, they sought independence from the powerful British Empire, becoming the first colonies in the Americas to revolt and seek independence from their mother empire....
Trumbull's Declaration, and Ours
In November 1826 John Trumbull’s paintings of the American Revolution were installed in the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington, DC. The most famous of them is his depiction of the Declaration of Independence being presented to the...
American Jewish Origins, 1654-1820
A year after his inauguration as president, George Washington visited the Newport, Rhode Island Jewish Congregation, Jeshuat Israel, in 1790. He went in response to a letter he had received from the leaders of that synagogue as well...
Alexander Hamilton and the Civic Status of Jews in the Early Republic
“I fear prepossessions are strongly against us,” Alexander Hamilton confided to his beloved wife, Eliza. “But we must try to overcome them.” That day, February 5, 1800, marked the beginning of a high-stakes trial in which Hamilton...
Hometown Societies in the New World: Jewish Landsmanshaftn and Americanization
Jacob Sholts, a Jewish immigrant from the Russian Empire, wandered dejectedly through the streets of New York in 1904. Sholts, who had fled Russia to avoid military service during the Russo-Japanese War, could not keep a job. He felt...
The Jewish Health Professionals of Cincinnati
In studies of the significance of the Cincinnati Jewish community within the wider context of American Jewish history, the development of the Reform movement, and Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise’s oversight in establishing the iconic Plum...
Exiles by the Streams of Babylon: Newport Jews in the Colonial Era
Newport, Rhode Island, wears its colonial past like a badge of honor. Visitors to its historic district encounter numerous plaques, markers, and monuments as they wend the town’s narrow and cobblestoned streets. As contemporary...
Jewish Athletes and the Challenges of American Sports
The world of American sports has long offered the athletically inclined Jew with grand opportunities for achievement, acceptance, and even glory within this country’s society. But the road to success on the track, in stadiums, or in...
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Jewish Americans have made contributions to American society that far exceed their percentage of our country’s population. This is a minority culture that has touched every aspect of American society, from the arts, to medicine and...
The Jewish Imprint on American Musical Theater
Long celebrated as one of the most quintessentially American of entertainment genres, Broadway musicals delight audiences with glitz, glitter, and polish; send them home with at least a glimmer of hope; and celebrate America’s promise...
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