Sunday mail delivery was hugely controversial in the early 19th century, inspiring one of the U.S.'s first efforts to rally public opinion around a cause.

The Enlightenment brought the idea that punishments should be certain and mild, rather than harsh with lots of pardons and exceptions.

Would today's online, social media-based friendships look familiar to the letter-writing friends of earlier centuries, when epistolary friendships were also common?

Often the subject of conspiracy theories, Masons captured the allegiance of much of the early American elite.

Ivanka Trump will be assuming many duties of the First Lady. She won't be the first presidential daughter to take “the hardest unpaid job in the world.”

The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Thomas Jefferson was not then credited with its authorship.

Andrew Jackson had a predilection for old-fashioned fights of honor.

Early work from historian Elizabeth A. Fenn.