The Early Republic Tracker

0 Comments
/
The Early Republic Tracker documents instances where the federal government is removing facts and stories essential to the public’s understanding American history from public historical sites, museums, websites, and executive agencies.

Christ vs. Culture, Religion vs. Politics

0 Comments
/
Emily Conroy-Krutz reflects on the "porousness of the boundary between religion and politics" in the Early Republic, a dynamic paralleled in contemporary American denominations' debates over issues like LGBTQ rights.

“The Premise of Our Founding”: Immigration and Popular Mythmaking

0 Comments
/
Connie Thomas responds to the recent JER conversation on the Revolution at 250 by reflecting on the long running tension between celebratory rhetoric of the United States as a nation of immigrants and the stark reality of exclusionary impulses.

The History Trapped Within “Try That in a Small Town”: The Legacy of Racial Fears in the Early American Republic

0 Comments
/
The long history of slavery and racial violence in Columbia County, TN offers additional context for understanding the backlash against Jason Aldean's 2023 hit, "Try That in a Small Town."

Women’s Everyday Experiences of War during the American Revolution

0 Comments
/
In response to the recent JER Conversation on the Revolution at 250, Lauren Duval offers further insight into new approaches to women's history and the Revolutionary War.

American Revolution or Revolutionary War?

0 Comments
/
Inspired by the recent JER conversation on the Revolution at 250, Dillon Streifeneder considers how historians in recent years have worked to bring military history back into the history of the American Revolution.

Crafting an Open-Access Syllabus for the U.S. History Survey

0 Comments
/
Jennifer Black shares a roadmap and useful resources for departments seeking to adopt a common OER text in US history surveys.

The Conspiracy Theorists Have Gone to the Dogs

0 Comments
/
Chris Del Santo's contribution to our "Curious Sources" series offers insight into the workings of a nineteenth-century technological curiosity: the dog mill.

Dakota Silver Indian Peace Medals

0 Comments
/
Continuing our "Curious Sources" series, John R. Legg discusses the diplomatic and cultural significance of peace medals.

Samuel Mather and “An Attempt to Shew that America Must Be Known to the Ancients”

0 Comments
/
David Malcolm discusses an unusual source encountered while writing his thesis.

The Archival . . . Grain?

0 Comments
/
The practice of "reading against the grain" sometimes has more than one meaning, as Zoe Zimmermann discusses in this installment of our "Curious Sources" series.

Curious Sources: Editor’s Introduction

0 Comments
/
Elena Telles Ryan introduces our new "Curious Sources" series featuring historians' reflections on strange, challenging, or otherwise unusual archival sources.

How Past and Present Catch Up With Each Other

0 Comments
/
Discussing his article on the election of 1801, James M. Banner offers a first-hand example of how current events can offer historians new perspectives on the past.
Photo image of contemporary memorial to the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water: Black Family Networks and Slave Insurrections

0 Comments
/
Justin Iverson recounts the ways that Black communities utilized kinship ties to mobilize rebellion in cases like the 1811 German Coast Uprising.

Too Much Opera, Too Many Novels: Writing about Life, Death, and Yellow Fever during COVID-19

0 Comments
/
By exploring her own engagement with opera and literature during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Michelle Orihel makes a case for why historians might acknowledge the seemingly unrelated music and literature they consume while working on scholarship.
image of inside of Mount Holly Jail/Burlington County Prison Museum

“Unconscionable and unconstitutional”: The Supreme Court Is Using History to Disenfranchise Unhoused People

0 Comments
/
Kristin O'Brassill-Kulfan's research on Overseers of the Poor in the nineteenth century offers insight into contemporary actions criminalizing homelessness.
poster advertising sheriff's sale

The Power of Paper in the Early Republic

0 Comments
/
Among other symbols of authority available to local officials like sheriffs, as Chad Holmes demonstrates, even mere scraps of paper held immense power in the early republic.
map of boston from 1725.

When Did the Police Become a “Machine”?

0 Comments
/
The journey of America's police force from a non-professional night watch to a highly visible and professional force is the topic of Nicole Breault's newest essay.
illustration of man chasing a hog

Let’s Give Hog Reeves Their Due!

0 Comments
/
As a companion piece to his introduction to the new JER forum on "Local Governance in the Early Republic," Gabriel Loiacono explores the important, though often overlooked, role of local hog reeves in early America.
Angelica Schuyler holding child alongside her governess

The Unbroken Lineage of American Dynasty: From Revolution to Succession

0 Comments
/
Tom Cutterham explores the problem of American dynasty from 18th century examples to current pop culture iterations in shows such as Succession.