Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

90,976 items

Lesson Plan

Hamilton v. Burr: The Story behind the Duel

Lesson Overview Students will develop an understanding of the tensions in the relationship between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr prior to their famous duel in 1804. They will read and analyze key excerpts from primary source...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Middle Passage, 1749

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Historians estimate that approximately 472,000 Africans were kidnapped and brought to the North American mainland between 1619 and 1860. Of these, nearly 18 percent died during the transatlantic voyage from Africa to the New World....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864

8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

"Among the stories of the stormy days of the Republic, few will longer be remembered than the heroic defense and almost utter annihilation of the garrison of Fort Pillow." —Mack J. Leaming, April 1893 On April 12, 1864, fifteen...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In the early hours of August 22, 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led more than fifty followers in a bloody revolt in Southampton, Virginia, killing nearly 60 white people, mostly women and children. The local authorities stopped the...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In April 1775, John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore and Virginia’s royal governor, threatened to free slaves and reduce the capital, Williamsburg, to ashes if the colonists rebelled against British authority. In the months that followed,...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Slave Patrol Contract, 1856

7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In the 1800s, particularly after Nat Turner’s rebellion in 1831, the legislatures of slave states passed increasingly strict laws governing the activities of enslaved and free African Americans and the interactions between whites and...

Classroom Resources

Infographic: Life in Colonial America: Climate, Commerce, and Culture

Geography, Government and Civics

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Click here to learn more about the New England Colonies. Click here to learn more about the Middle Colonies. Click here to learn more about the Southern Colonies.

P&E Home

Programs & Events

The Gilder Lehrman Institute promotes the study and love of American history through a wide array of programs and exhibitions for teachers, students, historians, and the general public. From weeklong seminars and other professional...

P&E Home

Programs & Events

The Institute promotes and celebrates accomplishments in American history education and scholarship at every level. Deepen your understanding and appreciation of American history by participating in a program or joining the Institute...

Collection Landing Page

Visit The Collection

Visit the Collection Field Trips A field trip to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History gives students the unique opportunity to learn history from real documents, up close with no display cases! This exciting experience...

Collection Landing Page

Visit the Collection

Collection Programs Inside the Vault Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection is a zoom presentation of documents from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Join our curators and learn the fascinating stories behind...

Collection Landing Page

Spotlight on Primary Sources

Spotlights on Primary Sources Each of the Spotlights from our Collection provides explanatory text, a transcript, and an image of the featured document. Questions for classroom discussion are available to K–12 teachers. Below are some...

Essay

The Civil Rights Movement

Taylor Branch

The word "movement" often designates a cultural shift of less import than the American Revolution, Great Depression, and other capitalized dramas in history. To be sure, some popular movements have gained broader recognition in the...

History Now Essay

Perils of the Ocean in the Early Modern Era

Robert C. Ritchie

Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

A traveler considering an ocean voyage around 1600 had much to contemplate. Voyage by voyage, explorers and colonists alike needed knowledge about the seas and lands in the Atlantic world. Unfortunately, information was never shared...

Appears in:

25 | Three Worlds Meet Fall 2010

History Now Essay

Women of the West

Virginia Scharff

Geography, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Women are like water to Western history. Both have flowed through the terrain we have come to call the West, long before the inhabitants conceived of themselves as part of an expanding United States. Both have been represented as...

Appears in:

9 | The American West Fall 2006

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....

History Now Essay

FDR and Hitler: A Study in Contrasts

David M. Kennedy

Government and Civics, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Great Depression and World War II were events in world history, but they touched different countries in sometimes dramatically different ways. To paraphrase Tolstoy, many peoples suffered, but every unhappy people was unhappy in...

Appears in:

14 | World War II Winter 2007

History Now Essay

The Marshall and Taney Courts: Continuities and Changes

R. B. Bernstein

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Though the first holders of the job thought it more a burden than a position of honor or power, the office of chief justice of the United States has a pivotal role in the American constitutional system, thanks mainly to John Marshall ...

Appears in:

15 | The Supreme Court Spring 2008

History Now Essay

Indian Removal

Theda Perdue

Geography, Government and Civics

In 1828 pressure was building among white Americans for the relocation of American Indians from the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River. A student at a mission school in the Cherokee Nation, which lay within...

Appears in:

28 | American Indians Summer 2011

Essay

The Human Toll of the Great Depression

Steven Mintz

Economics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

After more than half a century, images of the Great Depression remain firmly etched in the American psyche—breadlines, soup kitchens, tin-can shanties and tar paper shacks known as "Hoovervilles," penniless men and women selling...

Essay

Lincoln

Allen C. Guelzo

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

No one seemed less well-cast for the role of reformer, in an age of reform, than Abraham Lincoln. To begin with, he was a stranger, emotionally and intellectually, to evangelical Christianity, the great engine of reform in the...

History Now Essay

Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy

Daniel Feller

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Of all presidential reputations, Andrew Jackson’s is perhaps the most difficult to summarize or explain. Most Americans recognize his name, though most probably know him (in the words of a famous song) as the general who "fought the...

Appears in:

22 | Andrew Jackson and His World Winter 2009

History Now Essay

The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies

James T. Patterson

Art, Government and Civics, Literature

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

From the earliest years of European settlement in North America, whites enslaved and oppressed black people. Although the Civil War finally brought about the abolition of slavery, a harsh system of white supremacy persisted thereafter...

Appears in:

8 | The Civil Rights Movement Summer 2006

History Now Essay

The World War II Home Front

Allan M. Winkler

Economics, Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

World War II had a profound impact on the United States. Although no battles occurred on the American mainland, the war affected all phases of American life. It required unprecedented efforts to coordinate strategy and tactics with...

Appears in:

14 | World War II Winter 2007

Essay

The Thirteen Colonies

Francis J. Bremer

Government and Civics

The thirteen colonies that joined together to become the United States of America were but a part of the first British Empire. They were the product of a broad and dramatic expansion of England that began with the establishment of ...

Site Search

90,976 items

Hamilton v. Burr: The Story behind the Duel

The Middle Passage, 1749

The Fort Pillow Massacre, 1864

Nat Turner’s Rebellion, 1831

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation, 1775

Slave Patrol Contract, 1856

Infographic: Life in Colonial America: Climate, Commerce, and Culture

Programs & Events

Programs & Events

Visit The Collection

Visit the Collection

Spotlight on Primary Sources

The Civil Rights Movement

Perils of the Ocean in the Early Modern Era

Women of the West

The New Nation, 1783–1815

FDR and Hitler: A Study in Contrasts

The Marshall and Taney Courts: Continuities and Changes

Indian Removal

The Human Toll of the Great Depression

Lincoln

Andrew Jackson’s Shifting Legacy

The Civil Rights Movement: Major Events and Legacies

The World War II Home Front

The Thirteen Colonies

Stay up to date, and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter.