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90,987 items

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Runaway slave ad, 1852

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Broadsides and notices posted by slave owners or their agents offer dramatic and concrete evidence of the inhumanity of slavery. Defined as both property and responsible persons by law, slaves were sold with cows, sheep, and furniture...

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John Adams on the abolition of slavery, 1801

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

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). In the letter, Adams expresses his views on slavery, the dangers posed...

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The death of enslaved Africans on a voyage, 1725

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

Slavery in English America underwent profound changes during the first two centuries of settlement. During the early seventeenth century, some Black laborers were enslaved; others, however, were treated like White indentured servants...

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"I love you but hate slavery": Frederick Douglass to his former owner, Hugh Auld, ca. 1860

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Following his escape from slavery in Maryland to freedom in New York City in 1838, Frederick Douglass became a leader of the abolition movement and its best-known orator. His book Autobiography of an American Slave became a best...

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Columbus reports on his first voyage, 1493

Geography, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Spain to find an all-water route to Asia. On October 12, more than two months later, Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas that he called San Salvador; the natives called it Guanahani....

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Proclamation of 1763, 1763

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

At the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763, France surrendered Canada and much of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys—two-thirds of eastern North America—to England. The Proclamation of 1763 “preserved to the said Indians” the lands west...

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Declaration of Independence, 1776

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

During the spring of 1776, colonies, localities, and groups of ordinary Americans—including New York mechanics, Pennsylvania militiamen, and South Carolina grand juries—adopted resolutions endorsing independence. These resolutions...

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Don’t Buy a Ford Ever Again, ca. 1960

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

New Orleans in 1960 was sharply divided over the practice of segregation. The schools were ordered to desegregate, which angered many white people. Members of the Citizens’ Council of Greater New Orleans believed that large companies...

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Surrender of the British General Cornwallis to the Americans, October 19, 1781

World History

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

These three documents—a map, a manuscript, and a print—tell the story of the surrender of British commander Charles Cornwallis to American General George Washington. In October 1781, the successful siege of Yorktown, Virginia, by...

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Davy Crockett on the removal of the Cherokees, 1834

Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In this letter, written in December 1834, Davy Crockett complains about President Andrew Jackson’s forced removal of the Cherokees from their homes to Oklahoma. Crockett opposed that policy and feared Vice President Martin Van Buren...

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Death of a soldier, 1863: Paul Semmes

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Civil War was the bloodiest in the nation’s history, with 618,000 Union and Confederate soldiers perishing in the war. Among the nearly 8,000 men mortally wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 were twelve commanding...

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JFK on the containment of Communism, 1952

Economics, World History

In August 1952, as he was campaigning for the US Senate, John F. Kennedy addressed the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Federation of Labor. This manuscript is a draft of the speech Kennedy delivered before the influential labor...

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Map of the New World, with European settlements and American Indian tribes, 1730

Geography

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

This map, "Recens edita totius Novi Belgii in America Septentrionali," depicts present-day New England, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Created by Dutch mapmakers in 1730, the map reflects the...

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A bond for the manumission of a slave, 1757

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1757, New York tavern keeper Eve Scurlock freed five slaves in her will, citing their fidelity, service, and good behavior. Among them was a woman named Ann, to whom Scurlock also willed money, clothing, and household items. Though...

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Spain authorizes Coronado's conquest in the Southwest, 1540

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

This letter, written on behalf of the king of Spain by Francisco Garcia de Loaysa, the president of the Council of the Indies, acknowledges Francisco Coronado’s report of the famous Niza expedition of the previous year and authorizes...

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The Province of Massachusetts Bay requests aid from Queen Anne, 1708

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713) was the second of four great wars for empire fought among France and England and their Indian allies. This struggle broke out when the French raided English settlements on the New England frontier....

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The assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963

Government and Civics

13+

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas. This Dow Jones News Service ticker tape tells the story of that day as it happened. The fifteen sheets span the entire day of the...

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George Washington on attending church, 1762

Economics, Religion and Philosophy, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1762, Virginia planter and future president George Washington, just thirty years old, had reason for optimism. He had inherited Mount Vernon a decade earlier, and it had prospered under his management; plus he had married Martha...

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Landing of Columbus, 1492

Geography, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

This engraving depicts Columbus’s first landing in the New World, on the island he called San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. Columbus is surrounded by his men on the beach. Discussing the landing in his journal, Columbus wrote that he...

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De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi, 1541

Art, Geography, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1539, Hernando de Soto led the first major European expedition into the interior of the southeastern North America, an area then known as La Florida. De Soto landed near Tampa Bay, Florida, with more than 600 men, and hoped to find...

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Landing of Henrick Hudson, 1609

Geography

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1609, Henry Hudson was chosen by the Dutch East India Company to search for a passage to Asia. In September of that year, Hudson landed on the shores of the river that would be named for him and claimed the lands along it for the...

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President Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

On March 4, 1861, the day Abraham Lincoln was first sworn into office as President of the United States, the Chicago Tribune printed this special pamphlet of his First Inaugural Address. In the address, the new president appealed to...

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The Union Is Dissolved!, 1860

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The election of Abraham Lincoln as the sixteenth president of the United States in November 1860 led to the eventual secession of eleven slave-holding states and the formation of the Confederacy. Convinced that the federal government...

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The "House Divided" Speech, ca. 1857–1858

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

By 1850, the extension of slavery into the new territories won through the Mexican-American War of 1846–1848 provided a testing ground for competing visions of America. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 and the Kansas...

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The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Emancipation Proclamation was shaped by both pragmatic considerations and Lincoln’s deeply held, lifelong hatred of slavery. It was timed, after the Union victory at Antietam, to strike a military blow against the South’s economic...

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90,987 items

Runaway slave ad, 1852

John Adams on the abolition of slavery, 1801

The death of enslaved Africans on a voyage, 1725

"I love you but hate slavery": Frederick Douglass to his former owner, Hugh Auld, ca. 1860

Columbus reports on his first voyage, 1493

Proclamation of 1763, 1763

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Don’t Buy a Ford Ever Again, ca. 1960

Surrender of the British General Cornwallis to the Americans, October 19, 1781

Davy Crockett on the removal of the Cherokees, 1834

Death of a soldier, 1863: Paul Semmes

JFK on the containment of Communism, 1952

Map of the New World, with European settlements and American Indian tribes, 1730

A bond for the manumission of a slave, 1757

Spain authorizes Coronado's conquest in the Southwest, 1540

The Province of Massachusetts Bay requests aid from Queen Anne, 1708

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, 1963

George Washington on attending church, 1762

Landing of Columbus, 1492

De Soto's discovery of the Mississippi, 1541

Landing of Henrick Hudson, 1609

President Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, 1861

The Union Is Dissolved!, 1860

The "House Divided" Speech, ca. 1857–1858

The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863

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