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Articles on Declaration of Independence

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Martin Howard, left, and Stephen Hopkins came to opposing conclusions about their colonial British identities. Howard: John Singleton Copley via Wikimedia Commons; Hopkins: New York Public Library

2 colonists had similar identities – but one felt compelled to remain loyal, the other to rebel

What might appear to be common values about shared political and cultural identities can at times serve not as a bridge joining people together but a wedge driving them apart.
Anti-Catholic riots, like this one in Philadelphia in 1844, worried Canadians. H. Bucholzer via Library of Congress

Canada has long feared the chaos of US politics

‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ were the founding principles of the US. In Canada, the goals are ‘Peace, Order, and good Government.’
Residents line up in their cars in late November at a food distribution site in Clermont, Florida, where many are hungry because of the pandemic. Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Masks and mandates: How individual rights and government regulation are both necessary for a free society

The absence of effective government policy doesn’t make citizens free. It takes away their power, leaving them less able to act to address their needs. That’s especially clear during the pandemic.
A studio group portrait of the Fisk University Jubilee singers. James Wallace Black/American Missionary Association

The power of a song in a strange land

Spirituals were created out of the experience of enslaved people in the US. They weren’t songs of anger – but of an abiding belief in the victory of good over evil.

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