In coordination with classroom use of our 2017 Calendar of World War II, and to commemorate Veterans Day, we invited teachers to submit photographs of military monuments or memorials taken by K–12 students in their classes. We selected ten of the photographs as winners. We received more than 130 photographs from students across the country, and even from Taiwan! Our judges—Christine Kang, COO of the Institute; Susan Saidenberg, Director of Exhibitions; Ron Nash, Senior Education Fellow; Peter Shea, Videographer; and Justine Ahlstrom, Executive Editor—had a difficult time choosing just ten.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. The Dow Jones News Service ticker tape shown here provides a testimony of the day’s harrowing events as they unfolded, and gives insight into the confusion and panic of the nation as they awaited news of the President’s fate. The reports begin with, "PRESIDENT KENNEDY WAS SHOT TODAY JUST AS HIS MOTORCADE LEFT DOWNTOWN DALLAS — MRS KENNEDY JUMPED UP AND GRABBED MR KENNEDY — SHE CRIED OH NO — THE MOTORCADE SPED ON." The ticker news tape continues to follow Kennedy to the hospital, and
Today is Giving Tuesday—a day between Thanksgiving and the rush of the holiday season to give back to the community by volunteering, donating, or speaking out.
Americans have a long history of coming together to make a difference and improve the lives of others, most prominently during the Progressive Era, when people across social classes fought for social, political, and economic reforms. The infographic below highlights the top ten most prominent reform movements of the era. You can view an interactive, clickable version here.
On December 2, 1823, President James Monroe delivered his annual message to Congress. In one portion, now known as the Monroe Doctrine, he declared that the United States would not meddle in European affairs, and warned European powers not to interfere in the Western Hemisphere. From then on, a European attempt to assert control over any territory in the Western Hemisphere, through attack, colonization, or puppet monarchs, would be viewed as a threat to America as well.
The doctrine was a response to growing unease about European powers jockeying for control or territory and trade in the
On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, was ratified:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
As a constitutional amendment, it was more permanent—and farther reaching—than the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order that applied solely to those states in rebellion.
The US Senate had
Seventy-five years ago, shortly before 8 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack against US armed forces in Hawaii. Japanese pilots targeted Army, Navy, and Marine airfields, followed by naval ships at Pearl Harbor, with the aim of devastating the entire US Pacific fleet.
The two-hour attack left 2,403 Americans dead and 1,178 injured, and was followed by a formal declaration of war against the United States. On December 8, after a nearly unanimous vote by Congress, the US formally declared war on Japan.
This interactive story map uses a timeline and photographs,
The first Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11–15, 1862, has the distinction of being the largest Civil War battle, with a staggering total of 173,000 combatants. On December 11, Union troops came under heavy fire as they built bridges across the Rappahannock River. They crossed into the town of Fredericksburg the next day and clashed with Confederate troops, making this the first urban battle of the war. On December 13, 1862, Union troops led by General Ambrose Burnside faced off against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces at Marye’s Heights on the outskirts of Fredericksburg
Congratulations to Lamar University history professor Jeff Forret, who has been selected as the winner of the 2016 Frederick Douglass Book Prize for his book Slave Against Slave: Plantation Violence in the Old South (Louisiana State University Press). Forret’s book explores the physical conflicts between enslaved people in the American South prior to the Civil War. Using a variety of historical documents, Forret sheds light on the complex dynamics, value systems, and social relationships that existed among enslaved people. Forret will recieve a $25,000 prize at a ceremony in his honor on
We’re excited to announce that the Gilder Lehrman Institute is now a registered provider of Continuing Professional Education (CPE) in Texas!
Educators can obtain CPE hours through a variety of programs: online Self-Paced Courses, Teaching Literacy through History workshops, and summer Teacher Seminars—which are now open for applications.
We are currently in the process of becoming a registered professional development provider in all 50 states in order to make it easier for teachers to obtain professional development credit for our programs. If you would be interested in seeing the Gilder
On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first Southern state to secede from the Union. Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860 set the wheels of secession in motion. Many Southerners were convinced that the new president and his Republican Party would take federal action against slavery.
This broadside, printed by the Charleston Mercury, announced that South Carolina, by unanimous vote, would repeal the US Constitution and that "the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of ‘The United States of America,’ is hereby dissolved."
Eventually, ten
Passed by Congress in September 1789, the Bill of Rights was officially ratified on December 15, 1791, when Virginia became the tenth state (out of fourteen) to approve ten of the twelve proposed amendments. These ten amendments to the Constitution protect individual liberties from the power of the federal government; guarantee freedom of speech, press, religion, petition, and assembly; and specify the rights of the accused in criminal and civil cases.
Explore some of the Gilder Lehrman Institute’s teaching resources for introducing the Bill of Rights in the classroom:
Grades 4-6
Grades 7-9
The deadline for the WWI and America Project is January 13, 2017, in just three weeks!
Public, academic, and community college libraries have the opportunity to join institutions across the country in commemorating the 100th anniversary of America entering World War I by receiving a programming grant and a dynamic Gilder Lehrman traveling exhibition.
Apply to the program, a partnership with the NEH and The Library of America, or discover WWI programs being held in your state.
On December 29, 1777, badly in need of more supplies and troops, George Washington wrote to the New Hampshire legislature pleading for assistance. He describes the desperate state of the 9,000 Continental Army troops camped for the winter in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, counting many ill or wounded and noting that least one-third were braving the cold barefoot and without proper clothing. Washington sent a version of this letter to every state legislature, with the exception of Georgia.
In the six months the Continental Army was camped in Valley Forge, two thousand died from cold, hunger, and
On January 4, 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opened for business in its first permanent headquarters on Broad Street.
The Exchange had formally existed since 1792, but had operated out of a series of packed Wall Street coffee-houses and rented offices. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, the need for a more permanent exchange became clear: the opening of the Erie Canal saw New York City rise to prominence as the nation’s financial center, while a surge in American enterprise and the invention of telegraphs, tickers, and transatlantic cables greatly increased trading capacity. After the
The SAT US History Exam is only two weeks away, on January 21! Forty percent of the exam will focus on the momentous events and changes of the twentieth century. Prepare by reviewing the prewar, postwar, and present-day eras, or view the entire SAT II Study Guide here.
Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11—in 1755 or 1757—in Nevis, a small island in the Caribbean. Hamilton left an immense legacy as the first secretary of the treasury and architect of the American financial system. But what of Hamilton the man?
Hamilton’s amorous side is revealed in an intimate letter to his fiancée, Elizabeth Schuyler.
Writing in the midst of the American Revolution, while serving as George Washington’s aide, Hamilton declares, "I meet you in every dream . . . ’Tis a pretty story indeed that I am to be thus monopolized, by a little nut-brown maid like you and from a
In 1622, colonist Sebastian Brandt wrote a letter to a merchant in London, seeking supplies and assistance. Brandt had arrived in Jamestown intending to scour the land for precious minerals such as gold, silver, and copper. But he was impeded by the deaths of his wife and brother, his own illness, and a lack of supplies. He asks Henry Hovener to send him a long list of necessities. including a bed, clothing, shoes, cutlery, cheese, spices, "cullerd beads" to trade with Native Americans, and a strong young man to assist him in mining. Though he lacks money and gold, he assures Hovener that he
Today we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s immense contributions to civil rights and social justice. One of the most enduring images of the civil rights movement is Dr. King delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. In this video, join Stanford University professor Clayborne Carson as he recalls the events of August 28, 1963, and explores the legacy of that iconic gathering:
Read more about the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the Major Events and Legacies of the Civil Rights Movement.
Middle and high school students with a passion for the Civil War can flex their writing and research skills by submitting an entry to the Civil War Essay Contest. Students have the opportunity to explore a Civil War topic of their choice and use secondary and primary sources (including letters, speeches, songs, photographs, newspapers, and military orders) to create an original scholarly essay.
In addition to prizes for the winning entries, the top essay writer from each school will receive a Gilder Lehrman publication, and both the school with the highest average judges’ score (minimum 10
President John F. Kennedy was inaugurated on January 20, 1961. Elected in the midst of the Cold War, Kennedy focused his inaugural address on international politics and America’s place in the world. Kennedy appealed to both American citizens and people of other nations to come together in a struggle against "the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself." He closed his speech with the now famous words:
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do
On January 24, 1801, President John Adams responded to two abolitionists who had sent him an anti-slavery pamphlet by Quaker reformer Warner Mifflin (1745–1798). Adams writes that he is personally against slavery, noting that "never in my Life did I own a Slave"—but that abolition should be "gradual and accomplished with much caution and Circumspection." In this his vision aligned with that of George Washington, who wrote privately to a fellow Virginia planter in 1786 that it was "among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in the Country may be abolished by slow, sure,
African Americans have served in every conflict in United States history, beginning with the American Revolution. However, it was not until the Civil War, and the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, that free African American men were officially sanctioned to join the US Army. On January 26, 1863, the 54th Massachusetts volunteer infantry was created by the War Department, becoming the first all-black regiment in US history. The 54th Massachusetts, led by white general Robert Gould Shaw, had to struggle to gain respect, recognition, and equal pay.
The Gallant Charge of the Fifty Fourth
National Freedom Day commemorates the date on which President Abraham Lincoln signed a congressional resolution proposing a Thirteenth Amendment—February 1, 1865. The amendment, ratified by the states on December 6 of that year, permanently abolished slavery in America. The road to abolishing slavery in America was a long and arduous one. In commemoration of the day, click the icons below to read about some of the men and women who contributed to the abolitionist movement:
Frederick Douglass &Black Abolitionists
Sojourner Truth &Black Female Abolitionists
Sarah & Angelina Grimke
Aaron Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, on February 6, 1756. In many ways his career paralleled that of his rival Alexander Hamilton. They both served in the Continental Army, became lawyers and practiced in Albany and New York City, and had rising political careers in the 1790s. Burr suffered a defeat in his bid for the presidency in 1800 and his bid for governor of New York in 1804, for which he blamed Hamilton. Their rivalry ended in the infamous 1804 duel. What became of Burr in the aftermath of the duel in which he fatally wounded Hamilton?
On July 20, 1804, nine days after the duel,
During the Civil War, Creed A. Lay, serving in the 40th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, sent this elaborately cut letter to his wife Sarah. Lay filled in the hearts with short, amusing rhymes about love and friendship, commonly written by friends in autograph albums:
Let not your friendship be like the rose to sever: But, like the evergreen, may it last forever!
Except (sic) my friend these lines from me they show that I remember thee and hope some thought they will retain till you and I shall meet again.
Long may you live happy may you be when you get married come and see me.
There is a
