CJ Martin is Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the College of the Holy Cross. This interview is based on his new book, The Precious Birthright: Black Leaders and the Fight to Vote in Antebellum Rhode […]
early republic
The Author’s Corner with Tyson Reeder
Tyson Reeder is Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University. This interview is based on his new book, Serpent in Eden: Foreign Meddling and Partisan Politics in James Madison’s America (Oxford University Press, 2024). JF: What led you to […]
“Let’s give hog reeves their due!”
Over at the Panorama, historian Gabe Loiacono introduces us to hog reeves. “Hog reeves were annually elected town officers,” he writes, “whose part-time position ensured that all hogs in the town wore a yoke and a nose-ring and were generally […]
Interview: Miles Smith’s Religion and Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War
The Early Republic saw religion or faith—not “churches” per se—as worthwhile and important for a healthy society.
The Author’s Corner with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
Nathan Perl-Rosenthal is Professor of History, French and Italian, and Law at the University of Southern California. This interview is based on his new book, The Age of Revolutions: And the Generations Who Made It (Basic Books, 2024). JF: What […]
The Author’s Corner with Kirsten Wood
Kirsten Wood is Associate Professor of History at Florida International University. This interview is based on her new book, Accommodating the Republic: Taverns in the Early United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write […]
When two early South Carolinians changed their minds about slavery
The South Carolina State Museum recently acquired the personal Bible of enslaver turned abolitionist William Turpin. Historians David Dangerfield (University of South Carolina-Salkehatchie) and Ramon Jackson (South Carolina State Museum) tell us more at Christianity Today: At first glance, William […]
The Author’s Corner with Michael A. Blaakman
Michael A. Blaakman is Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University. This interview is based on his new book, Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023). JF: What led you to write Speculation […]
The Author’s Corner with Peter Thompson
Peter Thompson is Sydney L Mayer Associate Professor of American History at the University of Oxford. This interview is based on his new book, Heir through Hope: Thomas Jefferson’s Lifelong Investment in William Short (Oxford University Press, 2023). JF: What […]
Before the “nones” there were the “nothingarians”
Here is Thomas Kidd at The Panorama: One of the most common news topics on American religion in recent years has been the rise of the “nones,” or the religiously unaffiliated. News stories from the Pew Research Center and similar outlets constantly […]
The Author’s Corner with Sarah Naramore
Sarah Naramore is Assistant Professor of History at Northwest Missouri State University. This interview is based on her new book, Benjamin Rush, Civic Health, and Human Illness in the Early American Republic (University of Rochester Press, 2023). JF: What led […]
Historian Linda Kerber revisits Women of the Republic
Last week in my American Revolution course we debated how the revolution influenced the lives of women. In the course of our discussion I introduced the students to Linda Kerber‘s idea of “republican motherhood.” This didn’t take too much pedagogical […]
The Avett Brothers’ bass player has started a podcast on John Quincy Adams
Longtime listeners of the The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast will remember our interview with Bob Crawford, the bass player of the folk-rock band the Avett Brothers. Listen here. I have long appreciated Bob’s support for our work at […]
In early republican New York, food was a “public good”
Over at JSTOR Daily, Matthew Wills introduces us to the work of historian Gergerly Baics. In a 2016 piece in Urban History he argued that early republican New York was “characterized by centralized, municipal food provisioning.” Baics developed these thoughts […]
Ed Ayers takes “History on the Road”
Learn all about Ed and Abby Ayers‘s “Discovery of America Tour’ here. A taste: My wife and I are embarking on a journey. We are looking for traces of America’s past from the first six decades of the 19th century, […]
The story behind the first abortion law in the United States
Here is a taste of Allyson Schettino’s post at the blog of the New-York Historical Society: The jury was outraged that a religious leader had persuaded a woman to terminate her pregnancy to hide his misbehavior and escape responsibility for […]
The radical tradition in early national New York
Historian Sean Griffin explores the legacy of Thomas Paine in early 19th-century New York. Here is a taste of his piece at the blog Gotham: New York City has long been considered a hotbed of radical political ideas, as well […]
One of the most decorated American historians of this generation wins another award
Early American historian Alan Taylor has won the New-York Historical Society’s 2022 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize for American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850. Here is Jennifer Schuessler at The New York Times: The book, […]
Even John Quincy and Louisa Adams could not resist the Aaron Burr charm offensive
Gwen Fries of the Adams Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society has a nice post on March 19, 1805 between John Quincy and Louisa Catherine Adams’s encounter with Aaron Burr a ship sailing from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Here is a […]
Secession is not a new idea
Here is historian Alan Taylor at The Washington Post: In our polarized times, talk of secession blooms on the losing side of bitterly contested national elections. After the 2016 election, some liberal Californians proposed a referendum to seek independence. Last December in […]