Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson
One of the saddest tales in American history tells how a well-intentioned President lost a dazzling opportunityDavid Herbert DonaldDecember 1956Reconstruction after the Civil War posed some of the...
View Article"Consensus Politics,” 1800–1805
The idea goes back to the very beginnings of our national history. Then as now, it was built upon human relationships, and these—as Mr. Jefferson found to his sorrow—make a fragile foundation.Louis W....
View ArticleThe Untold Delights Of Duluth
A few dazzling words about that emerging metropolis, delivered in 1871 by Congressman J. Proctor Knott. Edited for 1971 visitors by David G. McCulloughJune 1971On January 27, 1871, a forty-year-old...
View Article“the House Shall Chuse Their Speaker…”
And in doing so, the fate of Congress—will it be weak? will it be strong?—is determinedNeil MacneilFebruary 1977In December, 1847, after Robert C. Winthrop of Massachusetts had won election as Speaker...
View ArticleA Few Parchment Pages Two Hundred Years Later
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...
View ArticleThe Electoral College: How It Got That Way and Why We're Stuck With It
It was never designed to actually elect a President, it’s awkward, cumbersome, and confusing, and almost no one likes it. Americans have been trying to get rid of it for more than two centuries. Yet...
View ArticleThe Imperial Congress
An impetuous and sometimes corrupt Congress has often hamstrung the efforts of the president since the earliest days of the RepublicThomas FlemingFall 2010On a little-remarked, steamy day in late June...
View ArticleCongress
October 1974 In recent years the Congress of the United States has seemed to be the least vital element in the federal system. It has stood well back in the shadow of the Presidency and the Supreme...
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