AMERICAN HERITAGE

Featured Articles

The Constitution is more than a legal code. It is also a framework for union and solidarity.

Charles Lindbergh and the isolationists of American First opposed Lend Lease and Roosevelt’s attempts to prepare for possible war in Europe.

The Tragedy of Emmett Till

by Ronald Collins

The boy's vicious killing in Mississippi in 1955 helped to transform America's racial consciousness.

The Wilsonian Century

by Michael Mandelbaum

In the hundred years since his death, features of Woodrow Wilson’s philosophy have become central to international politics and American foreign policy.

Classic Essays from Our Archives

The Slave Who Sued for Freedom | March 1990, Vol 41, No 2

By Jon Swan

While the American Revolution was still being fought, Mum Bett declared that the new nation’s principle of liberty must extend to her, too. It took 80 years and a far-more-terrible war to confirm the rights that she had demanded.

"The Sparck of Rebellion" | Winter 2010, Vol 59, No 4

By Douglas Brinkley

Badly disguised as Indians, a rowdy group of patriotic vandals kicked a revolution into motion.

A Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later | May/June 1987, Vol 38, No 4

By Richard B. Morris

The framers of the Constitution were proud of what they had done but might be astonished that their words still carry so much weight. A distinguished scholar tells us how the great charter has survived and flourished.

The Meaning of 1918 | Fall 2018 - World War I Special Issue, Vol 63, No 3

By John Lukacs

A century after the guns fell silent along the Western Front, the work they did there remains of incalculable importance to the age we inhabit and the people we are.

Searching for “Shenandoah” | Winter 2022, Vol 67, No 1

By Bruce Watson

It's one of the oldest folk ballads in our national songbook, but where did it come from? The answer is complex, multi-layered, American.

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.

Today in History

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is launched in Boston Harbor. The 1794 Naval Act authorized its construction along with five other frigates, and the USS Constitution, nicknamed "Old Ironsides", served through the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.
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Edison successfully tests incandescent light bulb

Thomas Edison successfully tests his incandescent light bulb with a cotton carbonized filament. The light bulb would stay electrified for over 13 hours.
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Battle of Aachen

American soldiers triumph at the Battle of Aachen following the surrender of 5,000 German soldiers. Aachen, along the Belgian and Dutch borders, is the first German city captured by the Americans.