Abortion-rights protesters shout slogans after tying green flags to the fence of the White House in Washington, D.C. on July 9, 2022.
AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe
Historians of American religious history explain why the Supreme Court’s recent religious liberty rulings are an example of America’s long struggle to define religious freedom.
Reconstructed slave cabins at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia.
Stephen P. Hanna
Once owned by James Madison, the Montpelier plantation remains a model for presenting a full depiction of the life of the former president as well as the lives of those he enslaved.
Protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting a whiskey tax during George Washington’s presidency.
Archive Photos/Getty Images
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.
Many individuals are rejecting the COVID-19 vaccines for personal reasons.
Mark Felix / AFP via Getty Images
America’s founders accepted the reality of human selfishness. But, they also said people were capable of thinking for the good of the whole, which is necessary for a free society.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing at center and facing left just above the eagle, takes the presidential oath of office for the third time in 1941.
FDR Presidential Library and Museum via Flickr
A president’s persona is always a public act. In that way, Trump’s shtick – vulgar man of the people – was not exceptional. And every president has had to invent his version of the role.
A 1975 stamp printed in St. Vincent shows U.S. presidents George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who were all vocally pro-inoculation and vaccination.
(Shutterstock)
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.
Today’s genuine pessimism about America’s future has very old roots.
Aaron Foster/Getty
Think American democracy is ending? You’re not alone, writes a historian. American leaders have often yielded to despair – as far back as the founding of the republic.
President Donald Trump works on a smartphone, a common tool in his political communication efforts.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Throughout the coronavirus crisis, President Trump has made inconsistent statements about who is responsible for key aspects of the nation’s response to the pandemic. The Constitution has the answer.
Despite voter dissatisfaction with the Republican and Democratic parties, they are likely to persist.
Shutterstock/Victor Moussa
Despite the fact that only 38% of Americans say they think the Democratic and Republican parties are doing ‘an adequate job,’ they’re unlikely to disappear.
Trump has employed the services of constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Trump’s backers say he is shielded from removal as no criminal offense took place. But this view may be at odds with the original intent of the impeachment clause.
Sen. Susan Collins is among the senators who have chosen to stay quiet about impeachment so far.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The Founders saw impeachment as a regular part of ensuring presidential accountability. A constitutional scholar offers a possible process for a rapid and smooth impeachment inquiry.
President Donald Trump arriving at the Rose Garden, May 22, 2019, in Washington.
AP/Evan Vucci
Politics have pervaded the debate about whether Congress should impeach President Trump. One legal scholar says that whether to impeach – or not – should not be viewed as a political question.
Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen testifies in February at a public hearing at the Washington legislature against limiting legislative branch disclosure.
AP/Ted S. Warren
Government produces millions of pages of records every day: studies, reports, memos, emails, budgets and more. These reports belong to the public, but increasingly, lawmakers are trying to hide them.