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Articles on Alexander Hamilton

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Overturning decades of tradition, the Supreme Court in 2022 let Alabama use voting districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Voting in unconstitutional districts: US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

Historically, federal courts prioritized voting rights and legal congressional districts for upcoming elections above all other concerns. But the Supreme Court changed that in 2022.
Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to reporters on June 9, 2023, in Washington about the investigation of Trump’s retention of classified records. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File

Why Trump’s prosecution for keeping secret documents is lawful, constitutional, precedented, nonpartisan and merited

A former national security staffer, now a scholar of secrecy law, says criticisms of Trump’s federal indictment for hoarding classified documents are unfounded.
There are lots of official photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin shirtless, including this one from August 2017. Alexey Nikolsky/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

The American founders could teach Putin a lesson: Provoking an unnecessary war is not how to prove your masculinity

A leader’s machismo can lead to war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long displayed his version of hyper-masculinity. A historian says that for America’s founders, wars never fed their egos.
Protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting a whiskey tax during George Washington’s presidency. Archive Photos/Getty Images

Political rage: America survived a decade of anger in the 18th century – but can it now?

Like today, passions were strong and political discourse was inflamed in late 18th-century America. Angry mobs torched buildings. Virginians drank a toast to George Washington’s speedy death.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (standing) talks with volunteers who are phone-banking against the recall on Aug. 13, 2021, in San Francisco. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California recall: There’s a method to what looks like madness

It’s easy to make fun of California politics. But a longtime scholar of those politics says the attempt to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is part of a long-running attempt to hold government accountable.
The founders believed education was crucial to democracy. Here, a one-room schoolhouse in Breathitt County, Ky. Photograph by Marion Post Wolcott/Library of Congress

America’s founders believed civic education and historical knowledge would prevent tyranny – and foster democracy

Democracies degenerate because of cunning leaders. Democracies also crumble because of the people themselves – and the US founders believed education would be crucial to maintaining democracy.
A transcript from the Constitutional Convention records the official report creating the Electoral College. U.S. National Archives

Who invented the Electoral College?

Three approaches were debated during the Constitutional Convention – election by Congress, selection by state legislatures and a popular election, though that was restricted to white landowning men.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, center, and the cast of “Hamilton” perform at the Tony Awards in New York on June 12, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Invision - Evan Agostini

‘Hamilton’ ignores the statesman’s strategy to fund genocidal warfare against Indigenous Peoples

Alexander Hamilton’s commitment to a well-funded national army and his support for territorial expansion had grave repercussions for the Indigenous Nations west of the Appalachians.

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