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William Penn on the "Well-Governing of My Family," 1751

Religion and Philosophy

K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Quaker school teacher Josiah Forster first published this broadside in 1751, thirty years after the death of its author, William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania. The treatise, Christian Discipline: Or Certain Good and...

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An African American protests the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850

Economics

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

This 1850 letter written by Henry Weeden is a statement against slavery by a free African American. Weeden was one of Boston’s leading abolitionists. In the 1840s, he had been an activist for the integration of Boston’s schools. [1]...

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Albert Einstein on the McCarthy hearings and the Fifth Amendment, 1953

Government and Civics

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

During the "McCarthy hearings" of the 1950s, the government investigated American society and industry in an attempt to root out communist sympathizers. Among those investigated were scientists and scholars, who were called upon to...

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George Wallace on segregation, 1964

Government and Civics

In 1958, George Wallace ran against John Patterson in his first gubernatorial race. In that Alabama election, Wallace refused to make race an issue, and he declined the endorsement of the Ku Klux Klan. This move won Wallace the...

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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...

Site Search

90,945 items

William Penn on the "Well-Governing of My Family," 1751

An African American protests the Fugitive Slave Law, 1850

Albert Einstein on the McCarthy hearings and the Fifth Amendment, 1953

George Wallace on segregation, 1964

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

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