Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
SEARCH OUR ARCHIVES!
Democracy in America
It’s an idea, more than a country or a nation.
The creation of the United States of America was a strange event in the sweep of world history — strange enough that it should probably be called something other than a “nation.” “Country” doesn’t quite work — too pastoral, too evocative of lazy summer landscapes for a people as industrious and a
How do we define the soul of the American nation, the principles that bind us together?
Editor's Note: Jon Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and a former Executive Editor and Executive Vice President at Random House.
The first votes of the fledgling Virginia Assembly in 1619 marked the inception of the most important political development in American history — the rise of democracy.
Editor's Note: Historian James Horn, a frequent contributor to American Heritage, is President of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.
Jackson had deep flaws, but he left a lasting legacy, strengthening the executive office and striving to represent as many Americans as possible.
David S.
Four hundred years ago this year, two momentous events happened in Britain’s fledgling colony in Virginia: the New World’s first democratic assembly convened, and an English privateer brought kidnapped Africans to sell as slaves. Such were the conflicted origins of modern America.
Historian James Horn, a frequent contributor to American Heritage, is President of the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation.
The Russians claim they want to be more like us— but do they have any idea who we are?
The Russian road to democracy is not going to be easy. In the forty-five-volume edition of Vladimir Lenin’s collected works, the index shows no entry for Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Adams, or James Madison.
The French aristocrat's observations of American scoiety are as relevant today as they were when first written
When the American republic was still young, and seemed in the European view to be a daring experiment that might or might not come to anything, Alexis de Tocqueville visited these shores and wrote a book, Democracy in America , which was accepted then and afterward as a brilliant examination of this strange new society. It remains a classic in its field; and now, a full century after its author’s death, a re-examination of what its author really had to say is very much in order.
Featured Authors
