The founding of the United States is often treated as a closed chapter, something contained in a handful of documents, a few familiar names, and a short list of dates that everyone is expected to...
Category - Voices of America at 250
What Early Americans Read, Heard, and Shared
In the years surrounding 1776, the American colonies were not shaped by a single voice or a single source of information. There was no unified message that reached everyone at once, and no system...
John and Abigail Adams, Duty, Distance, and Daily Life
The founding of the United States is usually told through public moments. Documents, debates, and decisions take center stage. The Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress, and the...
George Washington and the Voice of a New Nation
When the United States first began to take shape as a nation, it didn’t just need laws and structure. It needed a voice people could recognize and trust. That voice, more than anyone else’s, came...
1776 in Public Words
By July of 1776, the arguments had been building for a long time. Tensions with Britain were no longer new. Colonists had already spent years listening to speeches, reading newspapers, hearing...
Before 1776, The Language That Prepared the Ground
When people think about the founding of the United States, they usually begin with the Declaration of Independence. That is understandable. It is the best-known document of the nation’s early...