Benjamin Franklin’s Greatest Invention
Young Ben came up with a novel solution to colonial America’s economic woes: paper money
by Thomas Levenson
Mother Knew Best
Ninety years ago Harry Burn obeyed his mom and cast the ballot that gave women the right to vote
by Judith Newman
Online Extra: Suffrage Timeline
Susan B. Anthony’s Call to Arms
After her arrest for voting illegally in 1872, she insisted: “It was we, the people; not we, the white males”
Online Extra: National Woman Suffrage Procession
Thousands of women paraded through Washington, D.C., in 1913 to demand their right to the ballot box
Online Extra: Alice Paul
The suffrage activist who introduced American women to the more radical tactics of their British sisters
What Is Out There?
In 1819 a “scientifick” team headed into the unknown West and found a national treasury of new life
by Richard Conniff
Hate Turns to Love
In 158 remarkable letters, two old grumps—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson—set aside their grudges
by Joseph J. Ellis
Space Enough, and Time
Frontier-era photographer Eadweard Muybridge captured the first images of a world in motion
by Claudia Glenn Dowling
A Short History of the Filibuster
From the get-go, senators have relied on a variety of hijinks to keep legislation tied up in knots
by Peter Carlson
DEPARTMENTS
Gazette
Mount Rushmore digitized, Walt Whitman’s close encounter with a meteor demystified, Kent State tragedy reconsidered and more
Interview
Paul Peterson on how history informs school reform
The First
Book printed in America
Encounter
Sam Houston meets Alexis de Tocqueville
Details
Grant Wood’s take on Washington’s fabled cherry tree
Books the President Should Read
A critical look at our legacy of domestic terrorism
The Big Picture
Bison by the numbers
Reviews
A stolen Bill of Rights, Confederates in Mexico, true trime chronicles, sea sagas and more
Save This Old Barn