Day: April 24, 2020

How the Civil War Changed the Way Americans Thought About Economic Inequality

April 24, 2020
In the run-up to the 2020 election, some Americans are increasingly worried about the immense power that wealth plays in the country’s democracy. Those concerns would not have surprised Americans in 1776 — they assumed that property and political power were intertwined. Indeed, one had to own property to vote, although in America (unlike England)…

Republicans Could Use the Coronavirus to Suppress Votes Across the Country. This Week We Got a Preview

April 24, 2020
In 1946, Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo instructed his followers that the way to keep black people from voting was to get “the tar and feathers and don’t forget the match.” In the Jim Crow South, African Americans faced bullets, beatings, lynching and more for trying to cast a ballot. Over the years the weapon has…