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George Washington discusses Shays’ Rebellion and the upcoming Constitutional Convention, 1787

On January 25, 1787, Daniel Shays and his insurrectionists confronted a Massachusetts state militia force outside the Springfield armory. Shays’ Rebellion had begun in the summer of 1786, when Shays, a former Continental Army captain,...

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Enslaved Children of New Orleans, 1863

Photographs of emancipated children were sold to raise money for the education of freed slaves in New Orleans. The children featured in this photograph drew attention to the fact that slavery was not solely a matter of color. If a...

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The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870

Government and Civics

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments gave constitutional status to emancipation’s promise. The Fifteenth Amendment provided suffrage for black men, declaring that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote...

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Speech in favor of the Twelfth Amendment, 1803

Government and Civics

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

Until 1804, American presidents were elected under a system established in the US Constitution in which each member of the Electoral College voted for two presidential candidates. The candidate who received the most votes became...

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Abstinence pledge card, 1842

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

Mathew Theobald, a Catholic priest in Dublin, Ireland, founded the Cork Total Abstinence Society on April 10, 1838. About sixty followers joined Theobald in swearing off alcohol completely and signed his abstinence pledge book....

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A Mirror for the Intemperate, ca. 1830

Government and Civics

The temperance crusade against liquor consumption was a central element of reform movements of the antebellum period. It drew support from middle-class Protestants, skilled artisans, clerks, shopkeepers, free blacks, and Mormons, as...

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Horace Greeley on a woman’s reform newspaper, 1851

In February 1851, suffragist reformer Elizabeth Oakes Smith wrote to New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley about her interest in starting a newspaper dedicated to women’s rights issues. Greeley answered with this rather brusque reply...

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John Mosby on the silver issue, 1895

Economics

In the late nineteenth century, Democrats and Republicans fought over whether the gold standard ought to be retained or if the United States should switch to a free silver system. In 1890, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed,...

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People’s Party campaign poster, 1892

Government and Civics

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

In July 1892, the Populist Party (or People’s Party), formed by farmers and labor supporters, held its first convention in Omaha, Nebraska. At that convention, the party created and ratified its Omaha Platform and nominated James B....

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Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901

Government and Civics

In February 1901, the Virginia General Assembly authorized a constitutional convention to draft election reforms. The convention, supported vehemently by Democrats, aimed to disfranchise African Americans without violating the...

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Lynching in America, ca. 1926

Government and Civics

The number of violent acts against African Americans accelerated during the first quarter of the twentieth century. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) began compiling lynching statistics in 1912,...

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Birth of a Nation, 1915

Government and Civics

This "Advice Sheet" flyer was distributed with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to theaters when the film was released in 1915. Significantly, the distributors are adamant that "NEGROES MUST NOT BE ADMITTED . . . under any...

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Frederick Douglass on the disfranchisement of Black voters, 1888

Government and Civics

Frederick Douglass, a former enslaved man and premier champion of civil rights for African Americans and women, was the nineteenth century’s most famous Black leader. In this letter, written in December 1888, he protests the...

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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

Economics, Foreign Languages, Literature, Religion and Philosophy

On March 25, 1911, a devastating fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City. Workers had been locked in the factory to discourage theft and prevent labor organization, and they were unable to escape when the fire...

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Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923

Government and Civics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

At midnight, January 16, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcohol took effect. The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture and sale (but not the possession, consumption,...

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Women's suffrage poster, 1915

Government and Civics

Opponents to women’s suffrage argued that voting would be detrimental to women’s character and to their families. This broadside, published around 1915 refutes those accusations. It declares that if a woman is responsible for taking...

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Susan B. Anthony on suffrage and equal rights, 1901

Government and Civics

Writing at the age of eighty, having just retired from a long public life as an advocate for abolition and women’s rights, Susan B. Anthony trenchantly summarized the gains that had been made in women’s rights. Her energetic tone...

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Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania, 1915

On May 7, 1915, the British passenger ship Lusitania , sailing from New York to Liverpool, was torpedoed by a German U-boat. The Lusitania sank, killing 1,195 people on board, including 123 Americans. The incident created sharp...

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Recruiting posters for African American soldiers, 1918

Government and Civics

These two World War I recruiting posters aim to encourage African Americans to enlist. In the first poster, “Colored Man Is No Slacker,” a black soldier takes his leave against a background of African American patriotism, self...

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Treaty of Versailles and President Wilson, 1919 and 1921

Government and Civics, World History

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, was drafted at the Paris Peace Conference in the spring of 1919 and shaped by the Big Four powers—Great Britain, France, Italy, and the United States. This souvenir copy of the Paris...

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Sacco and Vanzetti, 1921

Government and Civics

On May 31, 1921, Nicola Sacco, a 32-year-old shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a 29-year-old fish peddler, went on trial for murder in Boston. More than a year earlier, on April 15, 1920, a paymaster and a payroll guard had been...

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Herbert Hoover's Inaugural Address, 1929

Government and Civics

In November 1928, Republican Herbert Hoover was elected president over the Democratic nominee Al Smith. Hoover had served in the Harding and Coolidge administrations and won the nomination after Coolidge declined to run for a third...

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President Reagan’s First Inaugural Address, 1981

Ronald Reagan’s election to the White House came at a time of great economic and international turmoil for the United States. His first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, highlights many major issues of the day, including rising...

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President Ford’s statement on pardoning Richard Nixon, 1974

In this speech before the Congressional Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, of October 17, 1974, President Gerald Ford explains his decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. Nixon had...

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President Ford’s remarks in Japan, 1974

In November 1974, Gerald Ford became the first sitting American president to visit Japan—the trip was also Ford’s first abroad since replacing Nixon in August of that year. He used the trip to reinforce US-Japanese relations, and in...

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90,987 items

George Washington discusses Shays’ Rebellion and the upcoming Constitutional Convention, 1787

Enslaved Children of New Orleans, 1863

The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870

Speech in favor of the Twelfth Amendment, 1803

Abstinence pledge card, 1842

A Mirror for the Intemperate, ca. 1830

Horace Greeley on a woman’s reform newspaper, 1851

John Mosby on the silver issue, 1895

People’s Party campaign poster, 1892

Disfranchisement of African American voters in Virginia, 1901

Lynching in America, ca. 1926

Birth of a Nation, 1915

Frederick Douglass on the disfranchisement of Black voters, 1888

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 1911

Prescription for alcohol during Prohibition, 1923

Women's suffrage poster, 1915

Susan B. Anthony on suffrage and equal rights, 1901

Theodore Roosevelt on the sinking of the Lusitania, 1915

Recruiting posters for African American soldiers, 1918

Treaty of Versailles and President Wilson, 1919 and 1921

Sacco and Vanzetti, 1921

Herbert Hoover's Inaugural Address, 1929

President Reagan’s First Inaugural Address, 1981

President Ford’s statement on pardoning Richard Nixon, 1974

President Ford’s remarks in Japan, 1974

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