About page Summer 2023 Newsletter Gilder Lehrman Institute Events & News RECENT EVENTS Twelfth Annual Gilder Lehrman Gala The Gilder Lehrman Institute held its twelfth annual Gala on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in New York City. The Gala honored Debbie and Craig...
Essay The Early Republic Joseph J. Ellis In April of 1789 the ink on the recently ratified Constitution was barely dry when George Washington began the trek from his Mount Vernon plantation to the national capital at New York. The public reverence usually accorded to royalty...
History Now Essay The Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919 Carol Byerly Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History On September 19, 1918, 21-year-old Army private Roscoe Vaughan reported to sick call at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, feeling achy and feverish. He was promptly hospitalized along with eighty-two other soldiers that day. Influenza had... Appears in: 40 | Disasters in Modern American History Fall 2014
Essay The New Nation, 1783–1815 Alan Taylor Government and Civics The leaders of the American Revolution made three great gambles. First, they sought independence from the powerful British Empire, becoming the first colonies in the Americas to revolt and seek independence from their mother empire....
Collection Landing Page The New Nation, 1784-1800 The New Nation, 1784–1800 These materials address the creation of the US Constitution from the failure of the Articles of Confederation through the controversial election of 1800 in both official records and personal correspondence....
History Now Essay The Presidential Election of 1800: A Story of Crisis, Controversy, and Change Joanne B. Freeman Government and Civics 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+ Nasty political mud-slinging. Campaign attacks and counterattacks. Personal insults. Outrageous newspaper invective. Dire predictions of warfare and national collapse. Innovative new forms of politicking capitalizing on a growing... Appears in: 1 | Elections Fall 2004
Spotlight on: Primary Source The Whiskey Rebellion, 1794 Economics, Government and Civics In 1791, the federal government imposed a tax on distilled spirits to pay off the nation’s debts from the American Revolution. The tax, which was payable only in cash, was particularly hard on small frontier farmers, who bartered and...