Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Annotated
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon reflects the complicated religious culture of eighteenth-century America, influenced not just by Calvinism, but Newtonian physics as well.
Bourbon Country
Examining the ingredients—time, grain, government regulations—that have made bourbon an enduring national favorite.
Reading Aloud in the Early Republic
Magazines of the freshly founded United States drew legitimacy and stability from the collective voice and sociability of their editors.
Comparing Editions of David Walker’s Abolitionist Appeal
Digitization allows researchers to trace editorial and authorial changes in archival content. Both are central to the study of this famous abolitionist pamphlet.
The Declaration of Independence: Annotated
Related links to free scholarly context on JSTOR for the foundational document in American government.
The Early American Radical Fiction of John Lithgow
In the early 1800s, the Scottish immigrant wrote an anonymous tract imagining equality. He was worried about the brand-new American republic.
The Occult Remedy the Puritans Embraced
Why did the Puritans embrace a medical treatment that looked suspiciously like black magic?
William Blake, Radical Abolitionist
Blake’s works offer an alternative to the failures of the Enlightenment, which couldn’t muster a consistent argument for abolition.
Why Are U.S. Borders Straight Lines?
The ever-shifting curve of shoreline and river is no match for the infinite, idealized straight line.
How Benedict Arnold Helped Win the Revolution
Some historians think Benedict Arnold's treason may well have aided the American cause in the Revolutionary War.