Latest posts
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Religious Liberty as a Founding Debate
Religious freedom did not arrive as a settled American consensus. Virginia’s campaign against religious assessments shows how deeply the meaning of liberty was argued over.
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Self-Government After Independence
Winning independence did not settle how a republic should govern itself. The arguments over the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution reveal how uncertain—and contested—that task was.
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The Declaration’s Promise of Equal Rights
In 1776, independence needed more than a break with Britain: it needed a reason. The Declaration offered one in language that reached beyond the people who first claimed it.