Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

90,988 items

History Now Essay

From Citizen to Enemy: The Tragedy of Japanese Internment

Julie Des Jardins

Government and Civics, World History

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

Although World War II is covered in most school curricula, the story of American citizens who were stripped of their civil liberties here, on American soil, during that war is often omitted. Yet what happened to first-generation...

Appears in:

14 | World War II Winter 2007

History Now Essay

The Presidential Election of 1800: A Story of Crisis, Controversy, and Change

Joanne B. Freeman

Government and Civics

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

Nasty political mud-slinging. Campaign attacks and counterattacks. Personal insults. Outrageous newspaper invective. Dire predictions of warfare and national collapse. Innovative new forms of politicking capitalizing on a growing...

Appears in:

1 | Elections Fall 2004

History Now Essay

A Local and National Story: The Civil Rights Movement in Postwar Washington, DC

Wendell E. Pritchett

Government and Civics

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

The history of the Civil Rights Movement is the story of numerous grassroots campaigns loosely coordinated and assisted by a small number of national organizations. Every local struggle had its own actors, issues, and nuances, and all...

Appears in:

8 | The Civil Rights Movement Summer 2006

57 | Black Voices in American Historiography Summer 2020

History Now Essay

Lincoln’s Civil Religion

George C. Rable

Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

His long-time law partner William Herndon once described Abraham Lincoln as "the most shut-mouthed man who ever lived." That phrase wonderfully captured an important characteristic of a politician who had surprisingly few friends and...

Appears in:

Essay

The Civil War and Reconstruction in the American West

Elliott West

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

The histories of the Civil War and of the emerging West were tangled together from their beginnings. Although the war was fought mostly in the East, the events that set it off were born of the expansion of the 1840s, and in turn the...