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James Monroe’s two terms in office as president of the United States (1817–1825) are often called the "Era of Good Feelings." The country appeared to have entered a period of strength, unity of purpose, and one-party government with...

History Now Essay

Adams v. Jackson: The Election of 1824

Edward G. Lengel

Government and Civics

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When Vice President Albert Gore Jr. and George W. Bush, governor of Texas, squared off in the 2000 presidential election, people predicted it was going to be a historic election. The November results would determine not only which...

History Now Essay

Hanging by a Chad—or Not: The 2000 Presidential Election

James Gormly

Government and Civics

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When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to seek a fourth term in 1944, his campaign would come to mark a major moment in the history of presidential elections for several reasons. No president had run for a fourth term prior...

History Now Essay

Franklin Delano Roosevelt—Four-Term President—and the Election of 1944

Matthew Dallek

Government and Civics

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The presidential election of 1876 is better known for its controversial aftermath than for the campaign that preceded it. The basic outline of events after Election Day, November 7, 1876, is familiar. The Democratic candidate,...

History Now Essay

The Contentious Election of 1876

Michael F. Holt

Economics, Government and Civics

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"I come as a friend to offer my help to this very interesting republic," wrote the nineteen-year-old Marquis de Lafayette from aboard the Victoire as it sailed from France across the ocean to the rebellious British colonies in the...

History Now Essay

Advice (Not Taken) for the French Revolution from America

Susan Dunn

World History

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

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If one says "American Revolution" in the United States today, it is assumed that what is being referred to is the North American liberation struggles against the British Empire in the late eighteenth century. But the British North...

History Now Essay

The US and Spanish American Revolutions

Jay Sexton

Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, World History

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After the British signed the peace treaty that ended the American War for Independence in 1783, the City of London decided to commission a work of art to commemorate the conflict. The city’s representatives approached John Singleton...

History Now Essay

The Other Theater: The War for American Independence beyond the Colonies

Patrick Spero

Geography, World History

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The late eighteenth century saw two successful anti-colonial revolutions unfold in the Americas. The first was in the United States, culminating in 1783. The second was in Haiti, then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. That...

History Now Essay

Two Revolutions in the Atlantic World: Connections between the American Revolution and the Haitian Revolution

Laurent Dubois

Economics, Government and Civics, World History

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The US Constitution assigns no duties or responsibilities to the president’s spouse. Every woman had to define for herself the role she wanted to play. From the blank slate that Martha Washington encountered in 1789, the job gradually...

History Now Essay

First Ladies’ Contributions to Political Issues and the National Welfare

Betty Boyd Caroli

Government and Civics

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Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), one of the most admired women in American history, acted as first lady from 1933 until 1945, longer than any other presidential spouse, and put that position on the nation’s political map. Yet,...

History Now Essay

Eleanor Roosevelt as First Lady

Maurine Beasley

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Whatever else you can say about Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768–1849), she was famous. She was so well known and well regarded in her lifetime that, at her death in 1849, both houses of Congress adjourned, along with the Supreme Court...

History Now Essay

Dolley Madison: First Lady and Queen

Catherine Allgor

Government and Civics

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During nearly forty-one years of marriage, Martha and George Washington lived together in harmony and mutual enjoyment. Never did he play the overbearing patriarch nor she the querulous nag. Theirs was a peaceful domestic partnership,...

History Now Essay

Martha Washington Creates the Role of First Lady

Patricia Brady

Government and Civics

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Americans never elected Gerald R. Ford president or even vice president—Richard Nixon appointed him after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in October 1973. Today, Ford’s brief presidency is often forgotten. Yet during Ford’s two...

History Now Essay

Betty Ford: A New Kind of First Lady

Gil Troy

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Books and Printed Materials Carpenter, Linda Jean, and R. Vivian Acosta. Title IX. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2005. [A book designed to help sports professionals understand the law and its implications.] Hogshead-Makar, Nancy, and...

History Now Essay

Suggested Resources on Title IX from the Archivist

Mary-Jo Kline

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23 | Turning Points in American Sports Spring 2010

History Now Essay

"No Event Could Have Filled Me with Greater Anxieties": George Washington and the First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789

Phillip Hamilton

Government and Civics

George Washington’s fame rests not upon his words but upon his deeds. Therefore, his First Inaugural Address is sometimes overlooked. This is unfortunate because the words he delivered on Thursday, April 30, 1789, not only launched...

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A New York Times headline in January 2009 captured the essence of Barack Obama’s inauguration for many Americans: "A Civil Rights Victory Party on the Mall." An estimated 1.8 million people gathered to celebrate. Many heroes of the...

History Now Essay

A More Perfect Union? Barack Obama and the Politics of Unity

Thomas J. Sugrue

Government and Civics

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Several years ago when I was researching a very different subject at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York, I happened across several archival documents related to FDR’s first inaugural address. As a...

History Now Essay

FDR’s First Inaugural Address

Davis W. Houck

Economics, Government and Civics

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Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was a peerless work of political theology, evoked in the native tongue he had mastered in the same diligent way he had mastered the rebellion. In 703 words, he summarized the moral dilemma of...

History Now Essay

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

Lewis E. Lehrman

Government and Civics

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On January 20, 1961, as on most presidential inauguration days, the nation was governed by one president until noon and by another afterward. The contrast between outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his incoming successor,...

History Now Essay

John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address

Michael Nelson

Government and Civics

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