98 items
In March of 1783, George Washington faced a serious threat to his authority and to the civil government of the new nation. The Continental Army, based in Newburgh, New York, was awaiting word of peace negotiations between Great...
Alexander Hamilton’s "gloomy" view of the American Revolution, 1780
By October 1780, in the midst of the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton was discouraged by the apparent apathy of the American people and the ineffectuality of their elected representatives, as well as by the recent discovery of...
The Articles of Confederation, 1777
A day after appointing a committee to write the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress named another committee to write the Articles of Confederation. The members worked from June 1776 until November 1777, when...
Ratification of the US Constitution in New York, 1788
This unique copy of the US Constitution was printed by Claxton and Babcock in Albany, New York, between February 11 and March 21, 1788. Copies of the Constitution were widely distributed following the document’s signing by the members...
A plan for a new government, 1775
More than a decade before the Constitutional Convention in 1787—and months before the United States declared independence—John Adams wrote a plan for a new form of government for the American colonies. In it Adams described the basic...
Inside the Vault: George Washington and Slavery
For the August 7, 2020, session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection , the Gilder Lehrman curators were joined by Darnell Abraham from Hamilton , Jeanette Providence, an educator at Grant Union High...
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...
"Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons"
Soon after American colonists had won independence from Great Britain, Ona Judge was fighting for her own freedom from one of America’s most famous founding fathers, George Washington. George and Martha Washington valued Ona as one...
An Overview of Key Moments in the Separation of Powers and the Supreme Court; Federalism and the Two Court Systems
What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States
James F. Simon, the Martin Professor of Law at New York Law School, traces the protracted conflicts between Thomas Jefferson, an ardent believer in state sovereignty, and John Marshall, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,...
The Supreme Court and Religious Freedom
A. E. Dick Howard, the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Virginia School of Law, presents a short history of the Constitution and discusses the Supreme Court’s role in the ongoing debate...
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