164 items
In 1787 and 1788, debates over the ratification of the Constitution took place in towns and villages across the country. To gain support, both Federalists and anti-Federalists held meetings and marches that sometimes became violent....
“Defence of Fort McHenry” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 1814
In September 1814, Francis Scott Key, an attorney and DC insider, watched the American flag rise over Baltimore, Maryland’s Fort McHenry from a British ship in the harbor. Key had been negotiating the release of an American captive...
Inside the Vault: Two Generals: George Washington and Robert E. Lee
Originally broadcast on April 17, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores a letter from George Washington about becoming the first President of the United States in 1789 and...
Inside the Vault: George Washington's Inauguration
Join our curators, Kevin Cline, 2016 National History Teacher of the Year, and Sabrina Imamura from Hamilton as we investigate documents related to the inauguration of the first President of the United States. Discover the careful...
Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper: Sedition charges, 1815
Even though the Sedition Act of 1798 had expired in 1801, individuals could still be charged with sedition. On January 20, 1815, Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper, publishers of the Massachusetts newspaper The Yankee , printed an article...
The Sedition Act, 1798
On August 14, 1798, the Columbian Centinel , a Boston newspaper aligned with the Federalist Party, printed this copy of the Sedition Act. It was the last in a series of legislation known as the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the...
The Right to Vote, Part 1: The Early Republic through the Civil War
The Right to Vote: Part 1 The Early Republic through the Civil War
Who could vote in the founding and Jacksonian eras? Scroll through to view the exhibition (above). Recorded readings of select components in the exhibition...
Inside the Vault: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Voting Rights
On May 4, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Andrew Robertson (The Graduate Center and Lehman College, CUNY) to discuss materials related to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voting rights. Dr. Robertson explained how voting...
Voting Rights and Restrictions in Pre-Emancipation America
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> Access this essay as a PDF , including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. The concept of “democracy” changed throughout early American history. In...
Inside the Vault: The Whiskey Rebellion and United States Great Seal
On June 1, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Gautham Rao (American University) to discuss the Whiskey Rebellion and the United States Great Seal. The program explored the broader context of the Whiskey Rebellion and how it, like...
Inside the Vault: 1796 Civics Textbook
On July 6, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Adam Laats (Binghamton University) to discuss the 1796 book A Plain Political Catechism Intended for the Use of Schools in the United States of America . The program explored the...
Inside the Vault: The Reynolds Pamphlet
What led Alexander Hamilton to publish the infamous Reynolds Pamphlet (entitled Observations on Certain Documents . . . ) in which he confessed to an extramarital affair? What impact did it have on him, his family, and his career?...
H.W. Brands - "Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics"
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. Order Founding Partisans at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
Maurizio Valsania- "First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity"
Maurizio Valsania is a professor of American history at the University of Turin, Italy. Order First Among Men at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you...
Steven Hahn - "Forging America: A Continental History"
Steven Howard Hahn is a professor of history at New York University. Order Forging America at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our...
Jeffrey Rosen - "The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America"
Jeffrey Rosen is a legal scholar who serves as the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. Order The Pursuit of Happiness at the Gilder Lehrman Book...
Brooke Barbier - "King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father"
Brooke Barbier is a public historian and independent scholar with a doctorate in American history from Boston College. Order King Hancock at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through...
Alan Taylor - "Thomas Jefferson's Education"
Order Thomas Jefferson's Education at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Richard Brookhiser - "Give Me Liberty: A History of America's Exceptional Idea"
Order Give Me Liberty at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Harold Holzer - "The Presidents Vs. The Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media—from the Founding Fathers to Fake News"
Order The Presidents Vs. The Press at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Kariann Yokota - "Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation"
Kariann Yokota is an associate professor of history at the University of Colorado, Denver. Order Unbecoming British at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided....
Kate Masur - "Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction"
Order Until Justice Be Done at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
John Avlon - "Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations"
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Alexander Keyssar - "Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?"
Order Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Martha Saxton - "The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington"
Order The Widow Washington at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Van Gosse - "The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War
Order The First Reconstruction at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
David Head - "A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution"
Order A Crisis of Peace at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Robert Watson - "George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and Nation"
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Matthew Costello - "The Property of the Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President"
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David Armitage - "The Declaration of Independence: A Global History"
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Julie Winch - "Between Slavery and Freedom: Free People of Color in America From Settlement to the Civil War"
Order Between Slavery and Freedom at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Ada Ferrer - "Cuba: An American History"
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Johann Neem - "Democracy's Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America"
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Alan Taylor - "American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850"
Alan Taylor is the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Order American Republics at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
Susan Nagel - "Patriotism and Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for America's Capital City"
Susan Nagel is the author of Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror and Mistress of the Elgin Marbles as well as a critically acclaimed book on the novels of Jean Giraudoux. She has written for the stage and screen as well as the New York...
Akhil Reed Amar - "The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation: 1760-1840"
Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. Order The Words That Made Us at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided....
Inside the Vault: Mary Katherine Goddard
On March 3, 2022, our curators were joined by Dr. Martha J. King to discuss Mary Katherine Goddard. Goddard was a newspaper publisher and printer, producing one of the first copies of the Declaration of Independence, and served as...
Inside the Vault: A Summary View of the Rights of British America
On April 7, 2022, our curators were joined by Professor Andrew Robertson to discuss A Summary View of the Rights of British America . Written in 1774 by Thomas Jefferson, this document laid out the principal point that he would argue...
Mary Sarah Bilder - "Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution"
Mary Sarah Bilder is Founders Professor of Law at Boston College Law School. Order Female Genius at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...
Linda Colley - "The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen"
Linda Colley is the Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University. Order The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
The Declaration of Independence and the Long Struggle for Equality in America: An Introduction
Whatever else the Declaration of Independence encompassed—a proclamation of political sovereignty, an indictment against the King of England, an appeal for allies—its assertion that “all men are created equal” shines as the polestar...
What Does Liberty Look Like?
" We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ." Declaration of...
Peter Cozzens - "Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation"
Peter Cozzens is a retired US foreign service officer and winner of the 2017 Gilder Lehrman Prize in Military History. Order Tecumseh and the Prophet at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every...
Eric Foner, Kathleen DuVal, and Lisa McGirr - "Give Me Liberty! An American History"
Eric Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University. Kathleen DuVal is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lisa McGirr is a Charles Warren Professor of American...
T.H. Breen - "The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America"
T. H. Breen is William Smith Mason Professor Emeritus of American History at Northwestern University. Order The Will of the People at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the...
Steven A. Steinbach and Maeva Marcus - "With Liberty and Justice for All? The Constitution in the Classroom"
Steven A. Steinbach teaches US history and government at the Sidwell Friends School in Washington DC and Maeva Marcus is a professor of law at George Washington University. Order With Liberty and Justice for All? at the Gilder...
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