Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

1,254 items

History Now Essay

The Riddles of "Confederate Emancipation"

Bruce Levine

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In July 1861, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America, was exulting over the victory of his troops at the first Battle of Manassas (or Bull Run) and calling it a sign of eventual triumph in the war as a...

Appears in:

26 | New Interpretations of the Civil War Winter 2010

History Now Essay

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

Lewis E. Lehrman

Government and Civics

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...

Appears in:

36 | Great Inaugural Addresses Summer 2013

History Now Essay

African Americans in the Revolutionary War

Michael Lee Lanning

From the first shots of the American Revolutionary War until the ultimate victory at Yorktown, black men significantly contributed to securing independence for the United States from Great Britain. On March 5, 1770, Crispus Attucks,...

Appears in:

46 | African American Soldiers Fall 2016

Collection Item

Autograph letter signed

4 March 1862

Swisher, Daniel, fl. 1861-1863

to sister [Lydia A. Bishoff]

Swisher describes his surprise upon receiving his most recent letter from Bishoff. He had not heard from Bishoff for a long time, and had resolved not to write until he did hear from her. He now understands Bishoff's reason for not writing: she was...

GLC03523.40.07

History Now Essay

American Independence and the Spanish Navy

Manuel Lucena-Giraldo

For the ministers in charge of the Spanish empire, the outbreak of the American Revolution was nothing short of unthinkable. In 1776, the rebellion of American colonists against Spain’s quintessential enemy, the British empire, was...

Appears in:

68 | The Role of Spain in the American Revolution Fall 2023