Field Notes on the Republic
The Naturalization Oath, Read Closely
Every naturalized citizen takes an oath, and most citizens by birth have never read it. It is the clearest statement we have of what citizenship actually asks: allegiance not to...
The Naturalization Oath, Read Closely
Every naturalized citizen takes an oath, and most citizens by birth have never read it. It is the clearest statement we have of what citizenship actually asks: allegiance not to...
Caucus, the Most American Word Nobody Can Trace
Every four years, a single word climbs the dictionary lookups: caucus. It is one of the most distinctly American words in the language, and nobody knows where it comes from....
Caucus, the Most American Word Nobody Can Trace
Every four years, a single word climbs the dictionary lookups: caucus. It is one of the most distinctly American words in the language, and nobody knows where it comes from....
The Summer of 1787, Behind Closed Windows
The Constitution was written in a sealed room, through one of the hottest summers anyone could remember, with the windows shut on purpose. Why the Convention's secrecy rule, unsettling as...
The Summer of 1787, Behind Closed Windows
The Constitution was written in a sealed room, through one of the hottest summers anyone could remember, with the windows shut on purpose. Why the Convention's secrecy rule, unsettling as...
The Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, Counted
The First Amendment is the most quoted line in American civic life and one of the least carefully read. It is forty-five words long, and inside them are not one...
The Five Freedoms of the First Amendment, Counted
The First Amendment is the most quoted line in American civic life and one of the least carefully read. It is forty-five words long, and inside them are not one...
Why Some of the Founders Feared a Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the part of the Constitution most Americans can name, so it is surprising that some of the ablest framers argued against having one at all....
Why Some of the Founders Feared a Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the part of the Constitution most Americans can name, so it is surprising that some of the ablest framers argued against having one at all....
Marbury, and the Case That Built a Power
The case that gave American courts their defining power was, on its surface, a quarrel about a job, and the man who brought it lost. How Chief Justice John Marshall,...
Marbury, and the Case That Built a Power
The case that gave American courts their defining power was, on its surface, a quarrel about a job, and the man who brought it lost. How Chief Justice John Marshall,...