America’s Founders helped forge a world they themselves were not quite ready to inhabit.
In a commemorative edition marking America’s 250th birthday, Reason revisits the nation’s founding figures and the ideas that animated them. Read more here.
As a substantial, evenly divisible anniversary of the Declaration of Independence drew near, a member of the inner circle of the Founders looked upon the man who proclaimed himself the rightful successor and recoiled in horror.
“I feel much alarmed at the prospect of seeing Gen. [Andrew] Jackson President,” Thomas Jefferson told Daniel Webster in 1824. “He is one of the most unfit men I know of for such a place. He has had very little respect for laws and constitutions….His passions are terrible. When I was president of
Natalie Foster
I’m a political writer focused on making complex issues clear, accessible, and worth engaging with. From local dynamics to national debates, I aim to connect facts with context so readers can form their own informed views. I believe strong journalism should challenge, question, and open space for thoughtful discussion rather than amplify noise.