WE CALL THIS THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT
–SO LET’S ACT LIKE IT.

The United States is a living, evolving experiment in democracy. Its story is never static; each generation reinterprets the nation’s founding ideals in the context of new challenges. By “debriefing” America for its 250th anniversary, we gain the tools to strengthen our institutions, renew civic trust, and ensure that the nation’s next chapter reflects the best of its enduring principles.

In Pursuit focuses on what can make debriefing our experiment difficult:

Trust

Relevance

Access

Americans have lost faith in institutions, including the way history is told. Too often, accounts are distorted by ideology or oversimplified for easy consumption. In Pursuit restores trust by bringing together respected historians, journalists, and thought leaders to tell balanced stories about presidents and first ladies. Readers can rely on short essays rooted in evidence, clarity, and integrity.

History can feel distant and disconnected from today’s challenges, but the efficacy of our democracy depends on learning lessons from the past. In Pursuit bridges this gap. Each essay distills a powerful insight—about leadership, character, or civic responsibility—that speaks directly to our moment. History becomes not just something to study, but something relevant to chart our path forward.

Too many Americans encounter history only through textbooks or elite circles. The result is missed opportunities to engage broad audiences. In Pursuit makes history accessible to everyone. Brief, compelling essays, paired with podcasts, educational videos, social media, and events, ensure that students, teachers, and citizens of all ages can learn from our past.

A new kind of lesson.

The lesson is the central innovation at the heart of In Pursuit - a sticky one sentence takeaway accompanied with historical context. Each lesson will be anchored in a big insight from a story in our past, something timeless and universal that makes it relevant for all Americans. Think Ben Franklin maxims for the age of social media: punchy, memorable, contemporary, and digestible.

We’ll start with a presidential lens.

With so much valuable history to mine, we want our initial focus to be strategic and powerful. So we’re starting with a simple idea: one game-changing lesson seen through the lens of presidents and first ladies throughout American history.

Due to their unique purview, American presidents and first ladies help us look at the nation as a whole and yield lessons relevant to leaders at all levels of society.

American lessons will be sourced from:

Successes

Failures

Crises

Innovations

Precedents

Character

A breakthrough cultural initiative.

In Pursuit isn’t just a history project. It begins a dialogue about our past, present, and future as Americans. On President’s Day 2026, we’ll launch the project with our first essays, powered by our partner Substack. After that, essays will be distributed on a weekly basis throughout the year. We’ll expand the project through additional resources for kids and college students. And then, we’ll ask all Americans to engage with their reactions to the lessons, challenging everyone to identify lessons of their own. Collectively, we will curate and share the wisdom of the past 250 years to prepare us for the next American era.

Created with 70+ of the American experiment’s most insightful students.

Meet the Team

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