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Five years after leading the first English circumnavigation of the globe in 1577–1580, Sir Francis Drake led a raid against Spanish settlements in the Caribbean including Santiago, Santo Domingo, and Cartagena, as well as St....
Eleanor Roosevelt’s four basic rights, 1944
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a lifelong advocate of equal rights, used her position as First Lady to advocate against discrimination in the United States. However, Mrs. Roosevelt’s ideas were not embraced by everyone in the pre-civil...
The origins of FDR’s New Deal, 1932
When the nation fell into the Great Depression following the stock market crash of 1929, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was serving as New York’s governor and was responsible for shaping the state’s response to the crisis. The origins of...
FDR’s Court-Packing Plan: A Study in Irony
The Great Depression of the 1930s was the nation’s grimmest economic crisis since the founding of the American republic. After the 1932 elections, Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced a series of innovative remedies—his New Deal—but the...
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The Influenza Pandemic of 1918–1919
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...
The Pueblo Revolt
In 1680 the people known collectively as "Pueblos" rebelled against their Spanish overlords in the American Southwest. Spaniards had dominated them, their lives, their land, and their souls for eight decades. The Spanish had...
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Allen C. Guelzo - "Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment"
Allen C. Guelzo serves as the Thomas W. Smith Distinguished Research Scholar and Director of the Initiative on Politics and Statesmanship in the James Madison Program at Princeton University. Order Our Ancient Faith at the Gilder...
Voting Rights
Voting Rights Teaching Civics through History In this unit, students will develop knowledgeable and well-reasoned points of view on the history of voting rights in the United States. Image Source : “The First Vote” in Harper’s Weekly , November 16,...
Self-Paced Courses | Frequently Asked Questions
If you have further questions, please contact us at selfpacedcourses@gilderlehrman.org PART I: SELF-PACED COURSE PURCHASE AND ACCESS How do I sign up for a course? The 50 courses we currently offer are located on the first page of our...
Explore Black History Month Resources
In celebration of Black History Month, the Gilder Lehrman Institute highlights resources for studying Black history in America through curated groupings of documents and accompanying materials. Frederick Douglass Resources The Gilder...
Frederick Douglass Resources
Frederick Douglass, the “Prophet of Freedom,” was a prolific writer and speaker whose legacy of activism continues to inspire the world. The Gilder Lehrman Institute is fortunate to have several original Frederick Douglass documents...
Inside the Vault: Lincoln’s Refusal to Pardon Nathaniel Gordon
“It becomes my painful duty to admonish the prisoner that, relinquishing all expectation of pardon by Human Authority, he refer himself alone to the mercy of the Common God and Father of all men.” —Abraham Lincoln, February 4, 1862...
Hamilton Education Program | About the Hamilton Education Program
In October 2015, Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Rockefeller Foundation, the NYC Department of Education, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute announced an educational partnership to provide...
How to Participate in the Hamilton Education Program
Thank you for your interest in the Hamilton Education Program. Middle and high school students in Title I schools are currently eligible to participate in the program. If you are from a school , please register your interest in...
The Disability Rights Movement in America
Disabled people have always fought for their rights. This is because they know that every policy issue, health crisis, inaccessible space, and fight for justice is a disability issue. Demanding access and advocacy for all people,...
The United States and the Space Race
On July 20, 1969, 650 million people witnessed an astounding event. They tuned in to live broadcasts of the first lunar landing and heard American astronaut Neil Armstrong’s famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap...
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...
From the Editor
Hamilton! This is his moment. After years of being overlooked when Americans named the members of that pantheon known as "the Founding Fathers," Alexander Hamilton has finally become a star. Literally. It took a talented young rapper...
Sarah Parry Myers - "Earning Their Wings: The WASPs of World War II and the Fight for Veteran Recognition"
Sarah Parry Myers is an assistant professor of history at Messiah University. Order Earning Their Wings at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...
Announcing the 2024 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize Finalists
New York, NY, February 1, 2024 —The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2024 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize: Frank J. Cirillo , The Abolitionist Civil War: Immediatists and the...
Nominate a Teacher for the 2024 National History Teacher of the Year
Nominations are open for the 2024 National History Teacher of the Year Award ! Each year, we honor 53 teachers from across the country who have made an impact in their school community. We encourage you to submit a nomination for a...
Immigrants and Immigration in the Age of Lincoln
Immigrants and Immigration in the Age of Lincoln Led by : Prof. Harold Holzer (Hunter College, CUNY) Course Number : AMHI 679 Semesters : Spring 2024 Image: Engraving of Abraham Lincoln, circa 1892 (Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC07102.05)
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Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story
Essential Question What conditions created the need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, and what did that march achieve? Background Throughout American history, African Americans have struggled to gain...
America's Role in the World: World War I to World War II
Between World War I and World War II the United States emerged on the world stage as a superpower. This ascendancy had military, economic, humanitarian, and cultural dimensions. Some Americans expressed discomfort with this unwelcome...
Colonists Divided: A Revolution and a Civil War
Background The Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, the Declaratory Act, the Sugar Act, and the Tea Act were just a few of the many policies Great Britain enacted in the British North American colonies in the eighteenth century. To many...
Collection Programs | Student Transcription Project
Welcome to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History Digital Volunteer Transcription Project. You may start transcribing documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection by selecting one of the projects below and logging in with...
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...
“A City upon a Hill” from John Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity,” 1630
Click here to download this four-lesson unit.
Bill & Lia Poorvu, 2024 Gala Honorees
Bill & Lia Poorvu, 2024 Gala Honorees
Bill Poorvu Bill Poorvu is an entrepreneur and educator with more than sixty years of experience in his fields. He holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard University....
Ruth & Sid Lapidus, 2024 Gala Honorees
Ruth & Sid Lapidus, 2024 Gala Honorees
Ruth Lapidus Ruth Lapidus graduated from the Bronx High School of Science and Hunter College in New York City. She has an MA in public health administration from Pace University and...
Generations of Chinese in America, 1880s–1940s/1940s–1990s
Click here to download Unit 1. Click here to download Unit 2.
The Mexican-American War: Arguments for and against Going to War
Click here to download this three-lesson unit.
Letter from Christopher Columbus on Returning from His First Voyage to the Americas, 1493
Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
The History of Federal, State, and Tribal Powers, 1788–2020
Click here to download this five-lesson unit.
Classroom and Parent Resources for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
On the third Monday of every January, the United States celebrates the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic Baptist minister and activist who became one of the most well-known leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. The first...
Elizabeth Varon- "Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South"
Elizabeth R. Varon is the Langbourne M. Williams Professor of American History at the University of Virginia. Order Longstreet at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
The Culture of Congress in the Age of Jackson
During an 1841 debate in the House of Representatives, Edward Stanly of North Carolina said something derogatory about Virginian Henry Wise. A few minutes later, Wise walked over to Stanly’s seat. After some "earnest, and excited...
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Jim Crow and Its Challengers: 1880 to the Present
Jim Crow and Its Challengers Led by : Prof. Nikki Brown (University of Kentucky) Course Number : AMHI 677 Semesters : Spring 2024 Image: Address of Booker T. Washington, principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama,...
2023 David McCullough Prize Winners
2023 David McCullough Prize Winners
Read the prize-winning essays, selected from more than one hundred and fifty students’ entries. These entries were reviewed by a panel of our master teachers, and the finalists were...
Inside the Vault: The San Francisco Earthquake
“Wednesday, April 18th. will go down in history as the date of the most terrible calamity the United States, and particularly California, has ever known. I do not feel much like writing about it. Would feel better if I could cry but...
Jonathan W. White - "Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade"
Jonathan W. White is a professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University. Order Shipwrecked at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for...
The Revolutionary Era West, before and after American Independence
In December 1772, a year before angry colonists heaved chests of East India tea into Boston Harbor, the British government seemed on the cusp of creating a new North American colony. Named “Vandalia,” in honor of Queen Charlotte’s...
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