The Tale of Two Revolutions and Two Constitutions
The closing of the XXX Olympic Games, in both French and English, reminds me of Charles Dickens who in the nineteenth century wrote famously about the Tale of Two Cities—Paris and London–separated by a...
View ArticleMaking Free Men and Women
Richard Samuelson’s timely Claremont Review of Books essay, “The Genius of American Citizenship,” presents the Founders’ argument for the citizenship of American exceptionalism, as opposed to the...
View ArticleThe Dual Virtues of American Citizenship: Jealousy and Commitment
A naturalization address given last week by Professor Kevin Hardwick in Beaverdam, Virginia at Scotchtown, the governor’s residence of Patrick Henry during the War for Independence. In the late 1790s,...
View ArticleWe Want Workers, But We Must Form American Citizens
Gerald Russello, editor of the University Bookman, has put together a great symposium on immigration entitled Citizen, Community, and Welcoming the Stranger with pieces by Yuval Levin, Bruce Frohnen,...
View ArticleWhat’s True about Citizenship?
Littleton, Colorado Two decades ago, during a wave of handwringing about “the new nationalism” sparked by the war in Bosnia, the late political philosopher Jean Bethke Elshtain wrote that the...
View ArticleRuin or Renewal? Thoughts on America’s Third Century
Our political contests are increasingly bitter and render normal political decision making impossible. It is tempting to assume that past will be prologue, that our current divisions are temporary...
View ArticleThe Fraught Battle to Create an American Nationhood
As the United States marked its 243rd birthday this year, its citizens would be forgiven for worrying that the union might not reach its 250th. Divided into increasingly hostile red and blue...
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