Search | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

90,989 items

History Now Essay

Iberian Roots of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1640

David Wheat

World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In its broadest sense, African American history predates the history of the United States, colonial or otherwise; by the time the English colony of Virginia was founded in 1607, Africans and people of African descent had already been...

Appears in:

25 | Three Worlds Meet Fall 2010

History Now Essay

Navigating the Age of Exploration

Ted Widmer

Geography, World History

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Two thousand and seven seems a worthy year to reappraise the Age of Exploration, and not merely because a season of anniversaries is upon us. Of course, Jamestown’s 400th was widely publicized, thanks to a number of new books and...

Appears in:

12 | The Age Of Exploration Summer 2007

History Now Essay

The Antifederalists: The Other Founders of the American Constitutional Tradition?

Saul Cornell

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Great Debate The publication of the Constitution in September 1787 inaugurated one of the most vigorous political campaigns in American history. In the process of arguing over the merits of the new plan of government, Americans...

Appears in:

13 | The Constitution Fall 2007

Essay

Admiration and Ambivalence: Frederick Douglass and John Brown

David W. Blight

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

John Brown did not make it easy for people to love him—until he died on the gallows. Frederick Douglass, from his first meeting with Brown in 1847, through a testy but important relationship in the late 1850s, had long viewed the...

History Now Essay

Different Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement

Anthony J. Badger

Economics, Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In 1984 Jimmy Carter reflected on growing up in the segregated South. He recalled that as a young child, he, like many white children, had had an African American child as his closest friend. The two children spent all their play time...

Appears in:

8 | The Civil Rights Movement Summer 2006

History Now Essay

Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States

Thomas Dublin

Economics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The industrial revolution that transformed western Europe and the United States during the course of the nineteenth century had its origins in the introduction of power-driven machinery in the English and Scottish textile industries...

Appears in:

10 | Nineteenth Century Technology Winter 2006

Essay

Empire Building

Robert W. Cherny

Economics, Geography

The years between the end of the Civil War, in 1865, and the end of the century witnessed rapid and far-reaching change in the economic and social life of the United States. During those years, the nation was transformed from rural...

History Now Essay

The Indian Removal Act

Elliott West

Government and Civics

9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

In the early nineteenth century, as European empires and the fledgling United States jockeyed for position in the West, true power was still in the hands of Native peoples. They far outnumbered whites and controlled resources and...

Appears in:

22 | Andrew Jackson and His World Winter 2009

Essay

World War II

Kenneth T. Jackson

World War II was the central event of the twentieth century. It involved all six major continents, all three of the great oceans on the planet, scores of countries, and billions of people. It caused 57 million deaths and unimaginable...

Essay

History Times: The Colonial Era

Gilder Lehrman Institute

Economics, Geography, Government and Civics, Religion and Philosophy

2, 3, 4, 5

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean Imagine saying goodbye to family, friends, and familiar places to take a dangerous voyage across thousands of miles of ocean in a small wooden ship. Your destination: a strange and often hostile land. Yet,...

Site Search

90,989 items

Iberian Roots of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, 1440–1640

Navigating the Age of Exploration

The Antifederalists: The Other Founders of the American Constitutional Tradition?

Admiration and Ambivalence: Frederick Douglass and John Brown

Different Perspectives on the Civil Rights Movement

Women and the Early Industrial Revolution in the United States

Empire Building

The Indian Removal Act

World War II

History Times: The Colonial Era

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