AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

Recent rehabilitation of this important site at the Gettysburg battlefield provides a much improved experience for visitors.

John Dickinson: Forgotten Founder

by Jane E. Calvert

Dickinson played a pivotal role in our Nation’s founding, from the Stamp Act to ratifying the Constitution, but his contributions are largely forgotten by history.

“Shall We Have a King?”

by William E. Leuchtenburg

Some delegates at the Constitutional Convention wanted a strong executive, while others feared the American president might become a king.

Important Early Maps of America

by Edwin S. Grosvenor

In the Age of Discovery, maps held closely guarded secrets for the kings, adventurers, and merchants who first acquired them.

Still “Crazy” for Patsy Cline

by Holley Snaith

Since her untimely death in 1963, the legendary country music star—and the first female to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame—continues to inspire new audiences and artists.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

“Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead” | August 1959, Summer 2025, Vol 10, No 5

By Barbara W. Tuchman

John Hay’s ringing phrase helped nominate T. R., but it covered an embarrassing secret that remained concealed for thirty years.

“The Tide is Setting Strongly Against Us” | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4

By Edward L. Ayers

Lincoln’s bid for reelection in 1864 faced serious challenges from a popular opponent and a nation weary of war.

Did Castro Okay the Kennedy Assassination? | Winter 2009, Vol 58, No 6

By Gus Russo

Incriminating new evidence has come to light in KGB files and the authors' interviews of former Cuban intelligence officers which indicates that Fidel Castro probably knew in advance of Oswald's intent to kill JFK.

Did Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson Love Each Other? | Fall 2008, Summer 2025, Vol 70, No 3

By Annette Gordon-Reed

To call it a loaded question does not begin to do justice to the matter, given America’s tortured racial history and its haunting legacy.

The Treasure From The Carpentry Shop | December 1979, Vol 31, No 1

By David McCullough

THE EXTRAORDINARY ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

The Hawthornes In Paradise | December 1958, Summer 2025, Vol 10, No 1

By Malcolm Cowley

Nathaniel was poor and sunk in his solitude; Sophia seemed a hopeless invalid, but a late-flower love gave them at last “a perfect Eden.”

Today in History

General James McPherson born

Union Major General James McPherson is born in Clyde, Ohio. McPherson graduated first in the West Point Class of 1853 and spent his entire career in the United States Army before being mortally wounded at the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.
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Apalachin Meeting

State and local law enforcement raid the Apalachin Meeting of over one hundred North American mafiosi, who had gathered at the rural estate of Joseph "Joe the Barber" Barbara. By arresting and questioning a majority of the mafiosi, the federal government confirmed the presence of the American mafia.
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Joe McCarthy born

Future United States Senator Joseph McCarthy is born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. McCarthy served in the Marines during World War II before being elected to represent Wisconsin the Senate, where he served from 1947 until his death in 1957. McCarthy is most famous for his campaign to identify and quash communist threats during the Cold War, better known as McCarthyism.
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