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History Now Essay

Understanding the Burr-Hamilton Duel

Joanne B. Freeman

Without a doubt, the duel between former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr is the most famous duel in American history. On July 11, 1804, the two political rivals met on a dueling ground in...

Appears in:

44 | Alexander Hamilton in the American Imagination Winter 2016

News

Henry Ford Introduces the Minimum Wage: On This Day, January 5

On January 5, 1914, automaker Henry Ford made history by instituting a $5-a-day wage. The move made national news. Five dollars a day constituted double the industry norm—and double the pay of most of Ford’s own employees. At the same...

News

Black Lives in the Founding Era News, Week 12: A Black Patriot's Pay Warrant

The Gilder Lehrman Institute initiative “ Black Lives in the Founding Era ” restores to view the lives and works of a wide array of African Americans in the period 1760 to 1800, drawing on our archive of historical documents and our...

About page

Annette Gordon-Reed

Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. She was formerly the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

A patriot’s letter to his loyalist father, 1778

In February 1778, Timothy Pickering Jr. received word from Massachusetts that his father was dying. An adjutant general in George Washington’s Continental Army, Pickering wrote his father this moving letter of farewell on February 23,...

Lesson Plan

Introduction to Imperialism

Overview Students will be introduced to the concept of imperialism, and specifically the three justifications US foreign policy leaders used to justify US Imperialism at the turn of the twentieth century. Warm Up Define Imperialism....

Spotlight on: Primary Source

J. Edgar Hoover on campus unrest, 1970

Government and Civics

In September 1970, J. Edgar Hoover composed an open letter to American students detailing his view on civil unrest at the nation’s colleges and universities and warning against the elements he believed responsible. Hoover opened with...

News

World War II Letters about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The Warsaw ghetto uprising began on April 19, 1943 w hen the Nazis tried to transport the remaining ghetto population to forced-labor centers and concentration camps. By May 16, 1943, the Germans had killed more than 7,000 Jews and...

News

Kevin Cline on GLI History School's "US Constitution: Looking Backward from 2021 to 1787"

Kevin Cline, who taught the Summer 2020 History School course “The United States, 1492–1865,” returns to History School this spring with “ The US Constitution: Looking Backward from 2021 to 1787 .” This course focuses on key aspects...

Lesson Plan

Religion and Literacy in Colonial New England

Religion and Philosophy

5, 6, 7, 8

Historical Background Puritans believed that reading the Bible was important to achieving salvation and, therefore, teaching children to read was a priority in their colonial centers. The New England Primer , first published in Boston...