Sean Wilentz

Wilentz: New Book Says Jefferson Davis was Right About the Constitution. What About Lincoln?

by Sean Wilentz

Noah Feldman's new books says that, in 1861, Jefferson Davis was right about the Constitution's sanction of slavery, and only the rupture of the Civil War could amend and reset the document. Sean Wilentz disagrees. 

In His First 100 Days, ‘Uncle Joe’ Biden Combines Progressive Goals and a Reassuring Manner

“Government doing something for people ... that was an idea that was disabled,” said Princeton historian Sean Wilentz. “He’s trying to bring it back.”

Against the Consensus Approach to History

by William Hogeland

Current debates about the historiography of slavery and the founding mistake the authority claimed by past generations of historians for scholarly integrity instead of recognizing that writing history has always been a political act (that often works to conceal its politics).

Sean Wilentz Writes Article on History of Cheating in Baseball for NYR Daily

by Sean Wilentz

"Say It Is So: Baseball’s Disgrace"

American Slavery and ‘the Relentless Unforeseen’

by Sean Wilentz

The neglect of historical understanding of the antislavery impulse, especially in its early decades, alters how we view not just our nation’s history but the nation itself.

Why We Must Impeach

by Sean Wilentz

The president’s abuse of power has surpassed any we’ve seen in our history — and Congress must act.

The Athletic Profiles Sean Wilentz's Mentorship of Yankees First Baseman Mike Ford

When a talented Princeton baseball player named Mike Ford needed an adviser for his senior thesis, Wilentz thought it could be a match. 

The Partisan

The political odyssey of Sean Wilentz.

Slavery and the Electoral College: One Last Response to Sean Wilentz

by Alan Singer

As historians and public figures, we have an obligation to defend democratic institutions and expose vestigial anti-democratic elements like the Electoral College that threaten democracy, which includes a careful examination of their origin and history. 

Sean Wilentz says the Supreme Court’s legitimacy is now at stake

by Sean Wilentz

"After Kavanaugh’s performance and his strong-armed confirmation, the 5-to-4 decisions that ensue will at least clarify exactly what the long-term right-wing campaign has been all about.” (It’s not originalism.)

Is Sean Wilentz right that liberals believe in capitalism and progressives don’t?

by Win McCormack

Some doubt the distinction he made in a recent essay that drew wide attention.

Sean Wilentz and Kevin Kruse: What was the election of 2016 all about?

A conversation.

Video of the Week: Sidney Blumenthal & Sean Wilentz on “The Hidden History of American Politics"

Former political aide Sidney Blumenthal and prominent historian Sean Wilentz of Princeton University explore the role party politics has played in America’s enduring struggle against economic inequality.

Review of Sean Wilentz’s "The Politicians and the Egalitarians"

by David Sehat

The intellectual range on display in this collection of essays is truly impressive.

An 8th grade teacher asked her students to evaluate Sean Wilentz’s claim that the Constitution didn’t protect slavery

by Stephanie Kugler

Her students concluded he was wrong.

Sean Wilentz is being called “Hillary’s Historian"

Why is this important? The lesson that he has drawn from his study of 19th century politics is that partisanship is a necessary element of the political process.

Sean Wilentz: Cherry-Picking Our History

Sean Wilentz is George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton and author of The Rise of American Democracy. (February 2013)Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick’s new book and accompanying ten-part televised documentary have a misleading title. Most if not all of the interpretations that they present in The Untold History of the United States—from the war in the Philippines to the one in Afghanistan—have appeared in revisionist histories of American foreign policy written over the last fifty years. Challenged by early reviewers, Stone and Kuznick have essentially conceded the point about their sources and claimed that what they call the “revisionist narrative” that informs their book has in truth become “the dominant narrative among university-based historians.”