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News

Spring 2020 Online Courses: Meet the Professors for Historiography

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Pace University are pleased to announce that registration for the Spring 2020 courses is now open for the online Master of Arts in American History for K–12 teachers affiliated with...

Spotlight on: Primary Source

Conscientious objectors: Madison pardons Quakers, 1816

Government and Civics

In 1816, seven Quakers in Baltimore, Maryland, petitioned President James Madison for pardons after refusing to serve in the militia or pay the exemption fee. Secretary of State James Monroe requested additional information on the men...

History Now Essay

Charles Mingus and the Third Stream

Krin Gabbard

Among the many jazz movements in which Charles Mingus (1922–1979) participated, the most likely and the most unlikely was Third Stream Music. [1] Gunther Schuller (1925–2015) coined the term, describing Third Stream as "the fusion and...

Appears in:

48 | Jazz, the Blues, and American Identity Summer 2017

History Now Essay

Archaeology as History in the North Cascades Mountains

Robert R. Mierendorf

The North Cascades Mountains have a reputation as being steeper and more snow covered than most other mountains of the far western United States. Native people (also “American Indians” or “Native Americans”) thrived in these mountains...

Appears in:

49 | Excavating American History Fall 2017

Lesson Plan

Religion and the American Revolution

Religion and Philosophy

9, 10, 11, 12

Historical Background While the dominant narrative of the American Revolution focuses on its political causes, the factor of religion cannot be ignored. Many settlers came to the North American colonies seeking the freedom to practice...

History Now Essay

"Fun, Fun Rock ’n’ Roll High School"

Glenn C. Altschuler and Robert O. Summers

Art, Government and Civics

5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

With his tongue halfway in his cheek, Ambrose Bierce defined history as "an account, mostly false, of events, mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers, mostly knaves, and soldiers, mostly fools." Well, we’ve come a long...

Appears in:

32 | The Music and History of Our Times Summer 2012

Spotlight on: Primary Source

An appeal for suffrage support, 1871

Government and Civics

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

The National Woman Suffrage and Educational Committee was formed in the spring of 1871. The Washington DC-based committee pledged to act as the “centre of all action upon Congress and the country.” The group was also dedicated to the...

Essay

Facing the New Millennium

Michael Flamm

6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1941, on the eve of Pearl Harbor, Time magazine publisher Henry Luce predicted that the twentieth century would become known as the "American Century." By many measures he was correct. During the next sixty years, the United States...

History Now Essay

From The Editor

Carol Berkin

When delegates from twelve states gathered in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, many of them feared that the quarrels between the states, the sudden rash of internal rebellions, the continuing presence of enemies on our national...

Appears in:

13 | The Constitution Fall 2007

History Now Essay

Home Adrift: Women and Domesticated Rail Travel

Amy G. Richter

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

In the summer of 1869 Godey’s Lady’s Book published an editorial marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The author praised the new "wonder of the world" and then clarified that "this great work was begun, carried on...

Appears in:

38 | The Joining of the Rails: The Transcontinental Railroad Winter 2014

News

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

OCTOBER 10 AND NOVEMBER 5, 1863: DAVIS TRIES TO RALLY CONFEDERATE MORALE The summer of 1863 had been a poor one for the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee’s army was not just repulsed from its invasion of Pennsylvania but bloodily beaten at...

News

Scholar’s Blog - Aaron Sheehan-Dean

History Now Essay

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

Patrick Spero

Geography, World History

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...

Appears in:

34 | The Revolutionary Age Winter 2012

History Now Essay

Labor Day: From Protest to Picnics

Joshua B. Freeman

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In the 1880s a surge in growth of the American labor movement led to the creation of two workers’ holidays, Labor Day and May Day. May Day soon spread abroad, as European unions and socialist groups adopted it as an occasion to...

Appears in:

4 | American National Holidays Summer 2005

History Now Essay

Amateurism and Jim Thorpe at the Fifth Olympiad

Kate Buford

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

Thorpe’s deception and subsequent confession deals amateur sport in America the hardest blow it has ever had to take and disarranges the scheme of amateur athletics the world over. New York Times , January 28, 1913 The early years of...

Appears in:

23 | Turning Points in American Sports Spring 2010

History Now Essay

Cold War, Warm Hearth

Elaine Tyler May

In the summer of 1959, a young couple married and spent their honeymoon in a fallout shelter. Life magazine featured the "sheltered honeymoon" with a photograph of the duo smiling on their lawn, surrounded by dozens of canned goods...

Appears in:

27 | The Cold War Spring 2011

About page

Julian H. Robertson, Jr.

Julian H. Robertson, Jr., an investor, environmentalist, and philanthropist, was the chairman and chief executive officer of Tiger Management, LLC. Robertson built Tiger into one of the world’s largest hedge funds with capital of more...

History Now Essay

Medical Advances in Nineteenth-Century America

Bert Hansen

Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

We live in an age when there seems to be a medical breakthrough in the headlines every few days, when new discoveries are immediately—and sometimes prematurely—put into practice. It is easy for us, therefore, to assume that this same...

Appears in:

10 | Nineteenth Century Technology Winter 2006

Guided Readings

Guided Readings: The Farmers' Revolt

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12

Reading 1 For our business interests, we desire to bring producers and consumers, farmers and manufacturers into the most direct and friendly relations possible. Hence we must dispense with a surplus of middlemen, not that we are...

Lesson Plan

The Transcontinental Railroad: Interpreting Images

Art

10, 11, 12

Objectives Students will be able to apply the distinction between inferring (inference) and implying (implication). analyze primary source illustrations, including paintings, political cartoons, and promotional posters. Essential...

About page

John L. Nau, III

John L. Nau, III, is chairman and chief executive officer of Silver Eagle Distributors, LP, the nation’s largest distributor of Anheuser-Busch products. Silver Eagle employs more than 1,400 people who serve sixteen counties in Texas...

About page

Luis A. Miranda, Jr.

Luis A. Miranda, Jr., has almost four decades of experience as a leader in the public and private sectors. A native of Puerto Rico, Miranda was director of field services and research at the National Action Council for Minorities in...

History Now Essay

From the Editor

Carol Berkin

Hamilton! This is his moment. After years of being overlooked when Americans named the members of that pantheon known as "the Founding Fathers," Alexander Hamilton has finally become a star. Literally. It took a talented young rapper...

Appears in:

44 | Alexander Hamilton in the American Imagination Winter 2016

History Now Essay

Why They Marched: Rank and File Perspectives on the Women’s Suffrage Movement

Susan Ware

In 1914, a Massachusetts woman named Claiborne Catlin decided to ride across the state on horseback to rally support for women’s suffrage. All of her personal belongings, including a khaki jacket and divided skirt donated by Filene’s...

Appears in:

56 | The Nineteenth Amendment and Beyond Spring 2020

Spotlight on: Primary Source

John Philip Sousa critiques modern music, 1930

4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), an American composer of classical music, served as the director of the United States Marine Band from 1880 to 1892. During Sousa’s time as leader of "The President’s Own," as the band was called, he...

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