Was Lincoln More Radical Than We Remember?
Damon Root discusses the path to emancipation, the struggle to secure freedom after the Civil War, and the constitutional changes that remade America.
History
America, 250 Years Ago: July 2026 Puzzle
"City where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776"
Understanding Vaccine Hesitancy
Unlike many people who tackle this topic, Kira Ganga Kieffer treats the vaccine-hesitant with respect and curiosity, not contempt.
How To Sell a War
Presidents use a web of private influence to garner support for foreign invasions.
1776 All-Stars: Benjamin Franklin Reminds Us To Just Do Things
Franklin was fundamentally an optimist, and his life reminds us that politics is not what really matters.
Henry Clay's Deal That Was No Deal: How the Compromise of 1850 Deepened the Slavery Crisis
The Compromise of 1850 was really no compromise at all.
Introducing Reason's America 250 Issue
America was a bicentennial basketcase. For the sestercentennial, we're in shambles. But there are still many reasons to celebrate.
Psychic Soldiers, Mind Readers, and Dolphin Drones: The Cold War's Weird Paranormal History
How Soviet séances and CIA remote viewers sparked a decades-long arms race no one was supposed to know about
Trump Loves Accusing Critics of Treason. U.S. Law Makes That Charge Hard To Prove—for Good Reason.
The president’s habitual attempts to criminalize dissent hark back to tyrants of yore.
Ayn Rand Is Alive in Ankara
Objectivism in Turkey has risen and fallen in recent decades, but is newly rejuvenated.
The Foreign-Born Heroes Who Chose America
Immigrants have fought for America's founding promise because they understood it, not because they inherited it.
The DJ Who Brought America Weird Al, Tom Lehrer, and 'Cows With Guns'
After 55 years, Dr. Demento has finally retired from the airwaves.
SCOTUS Term Limits May Be a Good Idea. But They Still Require a Constitutional Amendment.
Lifetime tenure for federal judges has been the constitutional practice since ratification.
The Modern Passport Has Eliminated Fraud, Forgery, and Heroes Who Can Bend the Rules To Save Lives
The biometric immigration system makes it impossible for bureaucrats to make a moral stand. I know because I tried.
Why Populism Leads to Decline
Johan Norberg discusses what makes societies prosperous, why protectionism and nostalgia keep returning, and how populism feeds cultural decline.
Stewart Brand on Fixing Stuff, Modern Environmentalism, and the Nuclear Future
"There's always a place in not just the market, but a range of situations and mindsets, for things that are cheap, fast, and just barely in control," the Whole Earth Catalog creator tells Reason.
The Anarchists Who Thought Mao Was on Their Side
As the Cultural Revolution turns 60, here's a look back at some of the fantasies that people projected onto it—and at one moment of possible prescience.
How Much Deference Does SCOTUS Owe to Congress?
Should it take more than a 5–4 vote for the Supreme Court to strike down a federal law?
Clarence Thomas Sets a New SCOTUS Record
Plus: A "supremely cringe" viral tweet about the Supreme Court
Heroes of 1776 Shows That Remembering the Past Is Key to Progress
Neil Gorsuch's new book reminds us that to accelerate progress, we must first acknowledge the progress that has already occurred.
Ted Turner, Entrepreneur of His Age
The creative destruction triggered by Ted Turner's wild gambits left the tyranny of licensed, bureaucratic TV in rubble.
Right-Wing Influencers Don't Understand What Makes America Great
The Dissident Right is furious with Neil Gorsuch for saying America is a creedal nation. That just goes to show how out of touch its obsessions are.
New Jersey's Iconic Diners Are Dying. This Is the Wrong Way To Save Them.
Democratic state lawmakers want to give tax carveouts to certain restaurants. The real problem is New Jersey's tax code itself.
Review: The Boring History for Sleep Podcast Mostly Delivers on Its Promise
If this podcast has a flaw, it's that occasionally the episodes are slightly too interesting.
Florida Wins the Curriculum Wars
Plus: French ship attacked, pro se on the rise, Mamdani's grocery store, and more...
How the Slaveholding Founders Really Felt About Slavery
Angst, guilt, and more self-awareness than you might expect
A Pointless War: How Iran Hawks Finally Got Their Way
President Donald Trump and his predecessors spent decades putting the U.S. on a path toward war against Iran.
Donald Trump's Deeply Disappointing Would-Be Assassin
Cole Tomas Allen's actions just don't make sense, even in his own words, or in a time of political polarization.
Long Before the Canal, Global Trade Built Panama City
The narrow geography of the 50-mile Central American isthmus made it an obvious choice for trade routes between the Atlantic and Pacific.
Chernobyl Wasn't a Nuclear Disaster—It Was a Communist Disaster
Forty years after the Chernobyl meltdown, too many people are still drawing the wrong conclusions.
Kodak Invented This Film for World War II Spy Planes. Then It Became Art.
Aerochrome photography is a beautiful example of a warlike technology being turned toward peaceful ends.
America's First Drafts
Before it was history, the Declaration of Independence was news. Not everyone got the story right.
Woodrow Wilson's War at Home
Silencing "Fighting Bob" details how the government targeted anti-war critics like Sen. Robert La Follette.
The Gun Debate Hasn't Changed in 500 Years
Guns disrupted the established order—and sparked modern-sounding debates over whether they could be effectively regulated.
When the U.S. Censored a Movie About the American Revolution and Imprisoned Its Producer
Remembering the infuriating case of United States v. “The Spirit of ’76.”
When SCOTUS Did Lasting Damage to the Bill of Rights
Plus: The Alito retirement rumors keep swirling.
Review: A Thorough Account of Socialism's History
On Origin Story, podcasters Dorian Lynskey and Ian Dunt cover everything from Karl Marx to the British Labour Party.
What Happens If There's a Murder in Antarctica?
No single government controls the South Pole, so how do they deal with crime?
Roscoe Conkling, the Political Boss Who Twice Declined a Supreme Court Appointment
The Republican stalwart thought he could wield more power from the Senate than he ever could from the Supreme Court.
Yes, the First Amendment Protects Free Speech for Noncitizens
"Freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country," according to a 1945 Supreme Court ruling.
Remembering Brian Doherty, Chronicler of and Participant in Wild and Wonderful Subcultures
The Radicals for Capitalism and This Is Burning Man author was more than an observer of the movements he wrote about.
Brian Doherty, Historian of the Libertarian Movement, Dead at 57
The longtime Reason senior editor accidentally fell to his death in a park along the San Francisco Bay.
The Enduring Fight Over 'Fighting Words'
More than eight decades ago, the Supreme Court invented a vague First Amendment exception that would-be censors continue to invoke.
Police Investigate German Historian for Hitler-Putin Meme
Germany’s law against Nazi symbolism "is being misused to silence people with dissenting views," Rainer Zitelmann tells Reason.
