178 items
In 1787 and 1788, debates over the ratification of the Constitution took place in towns and villages across the country. To gain support, both Federalists and anti-Federalists held meetings and marches that sometimes became violent....
“Defence of Fort McHenry” or “The Star-Spangled Banner,” 1814
In September 1814, Francis Scott Key, an attorney and DC insider, watched the American flag rise over Baltimore, Maryland’s Fort McHenry from a British ship in the harbor. Key had been negotiating the release of an American captive...
"Ona Judge Outwits the Washingtons"
Soon after American colonists had won independence from Great Britain, Ona Judge was fighting for her own freedom from one of America’s most famous founding fathers, George Washington. George and Martha Washington valued Ona as one...
"Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton"
This is a beautiful and informative biography featuring extensive back matter–including information about America’s revolution, the historical relevance of letter writing, and a timeline–and exquisite, thoroughly researched art that...
Inside the Vault: Two Generals: George Washington and Robert E. Lee
Originally broadcast on April 17, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores a letter from George Washington about becoming the first President of the United States in 1789 and...
Inside the Vault: America’s First First Lady: Martha Washington
In this session, Victoria Ann Scovens from Hamilton and Rosanne Lichatin, 2005 National History Teacher of the Year, join our curators to discuss two letters written by America’s first First Lady, Martha Washington. Written during...
Inside the Vault: George Washington's Inauguration
Join our curators, Kevin Cline, 2016 National History Teacher of the Year, and Sabrina Imamura from Hamilton as we investigate documents related to the inauguration of the first President of the United States. Discover the careful...
Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper: Sedition charges, 1815
Even though the Sedition Act of 1798 had expired in 1801, individuals could still be charged with sedition. On January 20, 1815, Thomas Rowe and Joshua Hooper, publishers of the Massachusetts newspaper The Yankee , printed an article...
The Sedition Act, 1798
On August 14, 1798, the Columbian Centinel , a Boston newspaper aligned with the Federalist Party, printed this copy of the Sedition Act. It was the last in a series of legislation known as the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the...
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham - "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans"
Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham is the Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Order From Slavery to Freedom at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate...
The Right to Vote, Part 1: The Early Republic through the Civil War
The Right to Vote: Part 1 The Early Republic through the Civil War
Who could vote in the founding and Jacksonian eras? Scroll through to view the exhibition (above). Recorded readings of select components in the exhibition...
Inside the Vault: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Voting Rights
On May 4, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Andrew Robertson (The Graduate Center and Lehman College, CUNY) to discuss materials related to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voting rights. Dr. Robertson explained how voting...
Voting Rights and Restrictions in Pre-Emancipation America
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> Access this essay as a PDF , including key vocabulary terms and discussion questions, or read the text of the essay below. The concept of “democracy” changed throughout early American history. In...
Inside the Vault: The Whiskey Rebellion and United States Great Seal
On June 1, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Gautham Rao (American University) to discuss the Whiskey Rebellion and the United States Great Seal. The program explored the broader context of the Whiskey Rebellion and how it, like...
Inside the Vault: 1796 Civics Textbook
On July 6, 2023, our curators were joined by Dr. Adam Laats (Binghamton University) to discuss the 1796 book A Plain Political Catechism Intended for the Use of Schools in the United States of America . The program explored the...
John Wood Sweet- "The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America"
John Wood Sweet, a historian of early America, is the former director of the University of North Carolina’s interdisciplinary Program in Sexuality Studies. Order The Sewing Girl’s Tale at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an...
Inside the Vault: The Reynolds Pamphlet
What led Alexander Hamilton to publish the infamous Reynolds Pamphlet (entitled Observations on Certain Documents . . . ) in which he confessed to an extramarital affair? What impact did it have on him, his family, and his career?...
H.W. Brands - "Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics"
H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. Order Founding Partisans at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
Maurizio Valsania- "First Among Men: George Washington and the Myth of American Masculinity"
Maurizio Valsania is a professor of American history at the University of Turin, Italy. Order First Among Men at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you...
Steven Hahn - "Forging America: A Continental History"
Steven Howard Hahn is a professor of history at New York University. Order Forging America at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our...
Jeffrey Rosen - "The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America"
Jeffrey Rosen is a legal scholar who serves as the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. Order The Pursuit of Happiness at the Gilder Lehrman Book...
Brooke Barbier - "King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father"
Brooke Barbier is a public historian and independent scholar with a doctorate in American history from Boston College. Order King Hancock at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through...
Alan Taylor - "Thomas Jefferson's Education"
Order Thomas Jefferson's Education at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Richard Brookhiser - "Give Me Liberty: A History of America's Exceptional Idea"
Order Give Me Liberty at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Harold Holzer - "The Presidents Vs. The Press: The Endless Battle between the White House and the Media—from the Founding Fathers to Fake News"
Order The Presidents Vs. The Press at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Kariann Yokota - "Unbecoming British: How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation"
Kariann Yokota is an associate professor of history at the University of Colorado, Denver. Order Unbecoming British at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided....
Catherine Kerrison - "Jefferson's Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black, in a Young America"
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Kate Masur - "Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction"
Order Until Justice Be Done at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
John Avlon - "Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations"
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Alexander Keyssar - "Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College?"
Order Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
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Martha Saxton - "The Widow Washington: The Life of Mary Washington"
Order The Widow Washington at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
Van Gosse - "The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War
Order The First Reconstruction at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!
David Head - "A Crisis of Peace: George Washington, the Newburgh Conspiracy, and the Fate of the American Revolution"
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Robert Watson - "George Washington's Final Battle: The Epic Struggle to Build a Capital City and Nation"
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Matthew Costello - "The Property of the Nation: George Washington's Tomb, Mount Vernon, and the Memory of the First President"
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Tamika Nunley - "At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C."
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David Armitage - "The Declaration of Independence: A Global History"
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Jessica Marie Johnson - "Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World"
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Julie Winch - "Between Slavery and Freedom: Free People of Color in America From Settlement to the Civil War"
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Johann Neem - "Democracy's Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America"
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Sally Hemings
Exploring extraordinary Black lives of the Founding Era, such as that of Sally Hemings, can transform our understanding of American history. Born in Virginia in 1773, Sally Hemings was an enslaved woman in the household of Thomas...
Alan Taylor - "American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850"
Alan Taylor is the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Order American Republics at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link...
Susan Nagel - "Patriotism and Profit: Washington, Hamilton, Schuyler & the Rivalry for America's Capital City"
Susan Nagel is the author of Marie-Thérèse, Child of Terror and Mistress of the Elgin Marbles as well as a critically acclaimed book on the novels of Jean Giraudoux. She has written for the stage and screen as well as the New York...
Akhil Reed Amar - "The Words That Made Us: America's Constitutional Conversation: 1760-1840"
Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. Order The Words That Made Us at the Gilder Lehrman Book Shop We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase through the link provided....
Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross - "A Black Women's History of the United States"
Daina Ramey Berry is the Michael Douglas Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Kali Nicole Gross is the National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies at Emory...
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