History News Network

Loading...
George Washington's Lesson for COVID-19 Vaccine Skeptics
George Washington protected his troops from a deadly epidemic by organizing the first large-scale immunization campaign in American history.
Loading...
The Surprising Political History of the Fight Against the Equal Rights Amendment
Discussion of the ERA often focuses on the 1970s, but early opposition to the proposed amendment involved a bipartisan coalition in Congress
Loading...
Alexis de Tocqueville's Warning About Presidential Elections
Tocqueville's writing shows that divisive elections are nothing new—but that what happens after the election has definitely changed.
Loading...
John Adams Lost His Re-Election. How He Responded Set a Precedent That’s Been Followed for More Than 200 Years
One thing that John Adams never did was to voice a word of regret about leaving the presidency at his term’s end
Loading...
150 Years Ago, the Senate Chose Not to Equalize Access to U.S. Citizenship. The Consequences Were Dire
Senator Charles Sumner lost his battle on the Fourth of July 1870, with dire consequences for the prospects of a more equal America.
Advertisement
Loading...
'Free College' in Historical Perspective
What is the historical origin of “free college” in presidential platforms? One intriguing clue comes from a 1947 report.
Loading...
Today’s Presidential Candidates Go Where the Voters Are—But These Past Campaigns Succeeded by Bringing the Voters to the Candidates
No presidential electioneering technique has ever been as successful while appearing and disappearing as quickly as front porch campaigning
Loading...
Scientists Have Been Talking About Climate Change for More Than a Century. Here’s Why It Took So Long for the World to Listen
Climate science is not a new discipline and the scientific consensus on climate change is far older than many people think
Loading...
What Alexander Hamilton Would Have Thought About a Wealth Tax
All taxation was on the framers’ table as they considered a new constitution. What would they make of the measures we are considering now?
Loading...
The History of Modern Mass Incarceration of African Americans Goes Deeper Than You May Think
The incarceration of African Americans did not begin with the end of the Civil War. Confinement was a punishment during bondage as well.
Advertisement
Loading...
When the Suez Canal Opened 150 Years Ago, It Helped Connect the World—And Heralded the Climate Crisis
The largest infrastructural project of the 19th century annexed the Middle East into the fossil-fuels complex
Loading...
America’s Founders Disagreed About Impeachment. Here’s How the Idea Made It Into the Constitution
As one delegate to the Constitutional Convention put it, "Shall any man be above Justice…who can commit the most extensive injustice?”
Loading...
A Century Ago, African Americans Were Massacred in Elaine, Ark. We’re Still Reckoning With That Moment
In the “Red Summer," perhaps thousands of African Americans were killed—the Elaine Massacre was a turning point, but it was only one of many
Loading...
Before the Berlin Wall, the KGB Used a Familiar Tool to Undermine Democracy in Germany: Disinformation
In one fell swoop, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower later said, Khrushchev had turned Berlin “into a tinderbox.”
Loading...
The Forgotten History of the Native Americans Who Helped the Underground Railroad
Native American assistance to freedom seekers in the Midwest has largely been erased from Underground Railroad studies. Here's why