America’s greatest piece of writing

Thomas Jefferson was tasked with drafting a wartime document declaring independence. How did it become one of history’s most enduring symbols?
PBS

DECLARATIONS: BLACK AMERICANS AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR Premieres June 29, 2026

ARLINGTON, VA; June 9, 2026— PBS announced that a new one-hour film, DECLARATIONS: BLACK AMERICANS AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, will premiere Monday, June 29, at 10:00 PM ET (check local listings) on ...
The New York Times

They’re Some of the Most Famous Words Ever Written. Have You Ever Really Read Them?

A.O. Scott is a Times critic who writes about literature and ideas. “The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem,” Walt Whitman wrote, but the nation was conceived in prose. Other ...
The New York Times

For America’s Birthday, a Declaration of Independence Whodunit

The New York Historical thinks it has identified the anonymous printer behind a rare broadside printing of the Declaration made soon after July 4, 1776. By Jennifer Schuessler Before the Declaration ...