history of the United States - The Atlantic

history of the United States

Wake Up, Rip Van Winkle

November 2025 Issue

Antique illustrated engraving of a long-bearded man in a hat sleeping among the brush.

The Many Lives of Eliza Schuyler

November 2025 Issue

Illustration multiplying reflected black-and-white portraits of Eliza Schuyler in a grid pattern.

What Is Colonial Williamsburg For?

November 2025 Issue

black-and-white illustration of man in colonial-period clothing with cane and scroll giving a speech on a stage with a modern crowd looking on

What the Founders Would Say Now

Fintan O’Toole

November 2025 Issue

black-and-white illustration of colonial American man standing in large room with portraits on wall and desk, wearing hat, coat, and breeches with cane, looking at his distorted reflection in a fun-house mirror

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution

November 2025 Issue

historical black-ink engraving of tribe assembled in seated circle under trees, with member standing in center speaking and gesturing with one arm

Whose Independence?

Annette Gordon-Reed

November 2025 Issue

collage-style illustration with an image of words from the Declaration of Independence turned sideways, striped across a painting of a Black hand on a robed lap, with manacle and thick metal chain

So Much Madeira

Victoria Flexner

November 2025 Issue

illustration in style of engraving of long table laden with turkey, pie, dishes, goblets, bottles of madeira and port, candles

The Insurrection Problem

November 2025 Issue

detail from black-and-white illustration of soldiers in colonial dress, with swords, on horseback in haze of battle

Secrets of a Radical Duke

November 2025 Issue

photo of large unfolded handwritten parchment titled The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

Behind The Atlantic’s November 2025 Issue Cover

Peter Mendelsund

November 2025 Issue

painting of tableau of figures from early American society both standing and seated, with heavy red drapes and pastoral scene behind

You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor

November 2025 Issue

a group of reenactors posed in a wooden rowboat on a lake

The Black Loyalists

November 2025 Issue

illustration of the flag of Great Britain waving with large white letters painted on it: LIBERTY FOR SLAVES

Why Did Benjamin Franklin’s Son Remain Loyal to the British?

November 2025 Issue

illustration of William Franklin seated, with powdered wig, wearing white shirt collar and dark green jacket with yellow lapels, in the style of an oil painting

What We Learned Filming The American Revolution

Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt

November 2025 Issue

photo of person in winter gear and large camera on tripod covered with umbrella in snow-covered landscape with colonial house and split-rail fence

Why Concord?

Robert A. Gross and Robert M. Thorson

November 2025 Issue

photo of forest trees with green grass and pine needles and blue sky in background

Editor’s Note

The American Experiment

Jeffrey Goldberg

November 2025 Issue

photo of the title page of The Pennsylvania Magazine, with engraved illustration of American symbols, from July 1776

How Originalism Killed the Constitution

October 2025 Issue

photo-illustration of the U.S. Constitution with a bouquet of flowers tied with ribbon on top of it

Actually, Slavery Was Very Bad

August 22, 2025

A photograph of enslaved people from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Secret of George Washington’s Revolutionary Success

August 3, 2025

An illustration of George Washington

The Largest Upward Transfer of Wealth in American History

May 22, 2025

House Speaker Mike Johnson

Along the Valdez Trail

May 4, 2025

An older black-and-white photo of several men wearing broad-brimmed hats talking while gathered around a campfire at night

America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State

Santa Filomena

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

February 23, 2025

A black silhouette of a woman wearing a long skirt, layered with silhouettes of four birds flying and an old-fashioned lamp, all on a beige background.

American History Is Key to Understanding Trump

February 4, 2025

A flying eagle holding a mirror

The Atlantic Daily: We Mourn for All We Do Not Know

Caroline Mimbs Nyce

February 9, 2021

Red 'A' on an envelope