The American Mind
•63% Informative
On the 215th birthday of America’s sixteenth and most celebrated president, Julian Zelizer says.
Zelizer: Americans hoping to better understand our current political moment should consider an imaginary conversation between our tallest and shortest presidents: Abraham Lincoln and James Madison.
Lincoln was worried that time induces forgetfulness, indifference, and eventually irreverence for laws, ideals that arise from human struggle, he says.
Americans still know enough to revere the founding generation that twice breathed life into the American soul, once in 1776 and again in 1787.
Lincoln’s most enduring lesson is that knowledge of our own history rocks the cradle of civic renewal.
When decent parents, traditional teachers tell the story of America to their children, chic cynicism and cheap radicalism will have no refuge.
VR Score
75
Informative language
82
Neutral language
17
Article tone
informal
Language
English
Language complexity
63
Offensive language
not offensive
Hate speech
not hateful
Attention-grabbing headline
not detected
Known propaganda techniques
detected
Time-value
long-living
External references
no external sources
Source diversity
no sources
Affiliate links
no affiliate links