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"But there has been also the American dream..." -- James Truslow Adams, The Epic of American (1931) There are few phrases in America that have been quoted more often, or misunderstood completely, than the American Dream. The term has become synonumous with home ownership, financial success, and upward economic mobility. Politicans promise to restore it. Economists will measure it. Advertisers will sell it to you. In an election year, it is ubiquitously mentioned on the right

This 1813 issue of Niles’ Weekly Register captures the American republic in the crucible of war. From the Prince Regent’s defiant address to Parliament, to naval skirmishes along our coast, to early debates over treasury notes and internal navigation, the pages reveal a nation fighting not only with ships and muskets, but with ideas, infrastructure, and resolve. It is a remarkable window into how the young United States understood itself under pressure.

Civil society is the product of reason applied over time. Its laws, institutions, and moral frameworks did not arise spontaneously, but were formed through sustained inquiry; through argument, observation, and the careful transmission of ideas from one generation to the next. To collect the records of that inquiry is to preserve the means by which society understands itself. The Aguirre Family Library is devoted to the preservation of works that contributed to the formation o