Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

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Interactive

Alexander Hamilton: Witness to the Founding Era

Economics, Government and Civics

This series of online exhibitions explores the importance of Alexander Hamilton to the founding of the United States. Each mini-exhibition features locations where Alexander Hamilton made history and documents written by or about him...

Essay

The American Revolution, 1763–1783

Pauline Maier

World History

The British colonists of mainland North America had great hopes for the future in 1763, when the Peace of Paris formally ended the Seven Years’ War. Since the late seventeenth century, their lives had been disrupted by a series of...

News

Richard Henry Lee Meets John Adams: On This Day, 1775

On November 14, 1775, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, visited fellow delegate John Adams, and the two held a fruitful discussion on “what form of government is more readily and...

Collection Item

Autograph letter signed

14 March 1785

King, Rufus, 1755-1827

to Henry Knox

King, a Continental Congressman, attempts to persuade Knox to accept the appointment of Secretary at War. Notes that although the salary is low, there will be a possibility for an increase, or an allowance for rent and traveling expenses. Declares...

GLC02437.03111

News

Inside the Vault on Thursday, February 3: David Blight's Favorite Frederick Douglass Documents

Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection is an online program that explores unique primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. From iconic historical treasures, such as the Declaration of Independence,...

News

Inside the Vault on Thursday, March 3: Postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard Appeals to Washington

Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection is an online program that explores unique primary sources from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. From iconic historical treasures, such as the Declaration of Independence,...

News

Hamilton Education Program Online June Newsletter: Announcing the Spring Winners

We are pleased to announce the Outstanding Performance Winners and Lottery Winners of the Spring 2021 Hamilton Education Program Online National Competition. The Outstanding Performance Winners are Celia Cruz Bronx High School of...

Lesson Plan

Securing the Right to Vote: The Selma-to-Montgomery Story

Government and Civics

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

Essential Question What conditions created the need for a protest march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965, and what did that march achieve? Background Throughout American history, African Americans have struggled to gain...

History Now Essay

The Lion of All Occasions: The Great Black Abolitionist Frederick Douglass

Manisha Sinha

On February 24, 1844, the Liberator printed an admiring report on Frederick Douglass’s “masterly and impressive” speech in Concord, New Hampshire. The fugitive slave was the master of his audience. Douglass, the writer fantasized, was...

Appears in:

50 | Frederick Douglass at 200 Winter 2018

History Now Essay

American Jewish Origins, 1654-1820

Hasia Diner

Religion and Philosophy

A year after his inauguration as president, George Washington visited the Newport, Rhode Island Jewish Congregation, Jeshuat Israel, in 1790. He went in response to a letter he had received from the leaders of that synagogue as well...

Appears in:

71 | The Jewish Legacy in American History Summer 2024