What Every American Should Know

They may not have had their likenesses set in bronze, but their stories are testaments to American progress.

In a more perfect union, the United States would embrace the unabridged version of its democratic experiment.

You don’t even have to go back a century to find a familiar climate of spin and propaganda.

This election is not the end. It is only a milepost in a long struggle to define American identity.

The Aspen Institute’s “What Every American Should Know” project might be coming to a local library near you.

Jefferson’s notion of liberty, while visionary for his time, did not extend to all people.

In this age of economic and civic inequality, understanding what it means to be American has never been more important. The Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program created an initiative called What Every American Should Know, crowdsourcing ideas from a wide range of Americans about what we all need to know to be aware, effective, and engaged citizens.