In 1999, the world watched in shock and dismay as President Bill Clinton underwent an impeachment trial for lying under oath about his extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Although Clinton was ultimately acquitted of charges of...

In 1783 the Treaty of Paris acknowledged the victory of the American republic over the British Empire. In 1815 the Treaty of Ghent acknowledged the American republic's successful "second revolution" against Great Britain in the War of 1812. The period...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens described these years; "it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, . . . it was the spring of hope, it was...

During the last three decades of the nineteenth century, the railroad, telegraph, telephone, electric light, and other technological innovations had a large impact upon the American legal system. In order to secure the exclusive right to make, use, or...

During the years 1900 to 1909 the United States was fast becoming an industrial society, yet its laws were based on an ideal of an agrarian society. American society was changing tremendously. Between 1901 and 1909 more than eight million immigrants...

Thomas Paine wrote on 19 April 1783, "The times that tried men's souls are over and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew gloriously and happily accomplished." The late eighteenth century was a time when many Americans tested the...

A traveler heading west over the National Road in 1817 noted the continuous stream of "family groups behind and before us" and concluded that "old America seems to be breaking up" and moving out to settle the frontier. Census statistics bear out his...

When Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801, he described for the American people the particular blessings they enjoyed. They were "kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe," and they...

Republican Ideology. The end of the War of 1812, with Andrew Jackson's decisive defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815, brought a burst of American national pride along with crucial economic, political, and cultural changes....

The history of government in North America begins with the coming together of two drastically different political traditions. The Europeans who first came to the Western Hemisphere were the agents of centralized monarchies that regulated the behavior...

In the late nineteenth century a new middle class emerged that had more leisure time and more disposable income than common people had ever enjoyed before in America. They were the employees and managers of corporations, who, because they were working...

Transportation Revolution. In an 1817 congressional address calling for federal support for a national system of roads and canals, South Carolina's John C. Calhoun noted the potential advantages to American business of such a system of internal...

The years between 1878 and 1899 were a soul-searching time for Americans, as they examined the basic values they lived by. Middle-class white women became interested in social causes such as helping the urban poor, promoting temperance or prohibition...

"Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us," said John Winthrop, first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop spoke these words in a sermon he delivered on shipboard as he and his fellow Puritans...

In January 1815 Americans had reason to feel a new sense of nationalism and patriotism. They had held off Great Britain's military forces in the War of 1812, and if they had failed to resolve the issues that caused the war, they had at least lost no...

Before the Revolution, Americans benefited from being part of the British Empire. England's command of the seas gave American merchants access to markets in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. Chief American exportssalted fish, rice, wheat...

North America has been home to humans for tens of thousands of years. The first people came from Asia, and they brought with them a Stone Age culture called Clovis that they spread from coast to coast and from pole to pole during their pursuit of the...

The period from 1815 to 1850 is often called the golden age of American law. The famous names of the era illustrate its centrality in American legal history and help explain the importance the bench and bar assumed during these years. John Marshall,...

In 1876, as the United States celebrated the centennial of its independence, one of the most disputed and corrupt presidential elections in American history spelled the end of the Reconstruction era and the beginning of a new period of American...

Visiting the United States in the 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville observed, "there is no country in the world in which the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men." While his statement probably seemed accurate to...

In the 1400s and 1500s the major states of Europe took their first steps toward imperialistic domination of much of the globe by exploring, conquering, and colonizing various regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The motives of these nations and...

The period 1783 to 1815 was a time of few great advances in medical science in America. In many ways doctors continued the crude medical practices of the colonial period, with some indications of new thinking regarding preventive medicine, mental...

During most of the nineteenth century, a newspaper or a magazine could be started with a little borrowed cash and a lot of hard work. Most publications expressed the views and preferences of their publishers and editors: it was the age of personal...

. From 1815 to 1850 successive waves of economic and social change swept across the nation. Revolutions in transportation, from the canal boom of the 1820s to the rapid spread of railroads, stimulated interregional trade and sparked an unprecedented...

Although the word "communication" may be used to identify activities that do not involve peopleanimals or even machines can be said to communicateit is usually defined as the means through which people exchange feelings and ideas with one another....

From the first contacts between Europeans and North American Indians to the present day, the area which today is the United States and Canada has been home to thousands of indigenous populations. Although most researchers have concluded that Native...

At the end of the Revolutionary War the United States became an independent political state, but the diverse population was hardly unified. The inhabitants were of different races and ethnicities and had no official religion or common culture. By the...

The period from 1815 to 1850 was not one of great achievement in American science and medicine. It was, however, a period during which distinctively American developments in science and medicine first began to emerge. Public interest in the sciences...

After the American Revolution, Americans began thinking of education in different ways. Traditionally education was meant to train children in various skilled trades, either through apprenticeship or through helping their parents. Many would learn to...

In popular thought, the introduction of religion to America began with the Pilgrims' arrival in Plymouth in 1620. The Native Americans, the argument continues, were heathens who lacked any religion, not only Christianity. Even the other English who...

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century industrialization and urbanization profoundly affected the manner in which Americans viewed their society. Great cities arose and industrialization proceeded so quickly that within two generations the...

In fashion and design — clothing, architecture, furniture, interior design, and automobiles — the turn of the century witnessed both a heralding of the new and a reluctance to break with the past. In fashion, men and women remained tied to...

As the British colonies on the eastern seaboard became more populated in the mid-1700s, colonists began to look beyond the Appalachian Mountains and contemplate westward expansion. Looking westward, they could only imagine the incredible riches the...

The span between 1878 and 1899 represented a pivotal period for American businesses and the national economy. Over these two dozen years, millions of Americans found themselves caught up in massive, fundamental transformations. The process of...

A revolution in transportation and communications accompanied ever-growing industrialization of the United States that followed the Civil War. A national system of railroads, a rapid allweather transportation so vital to the emergence of modern...

The period from 1878 to 1899 was marked by major changes in the American way of life. In the early 1870s the United States was predominantly a nation of farmers, with 83.9 percent of the population living in rural areas or small towns of fewer than...

During the age of discovery, from 1492 to 1600, European explorers, traders, and religious dissenters ventured to the so-called New World. As a result the cultures of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia experienced sustained contact with each other...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times," Charles Dickens described these years; "it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, . . . it was the spring of hope, it was...

Excerpt from "Behind Our Menacing Race Problem" Written by Turner Catledge. Published in the New York Times Magazine, August 8, 1943. "Whatever description may eventually be affixed to the riots that flared in Harlem … they...

Excerpt from "There Can Be No Appeasement with Ruthlessness … We Must Be the Great Arsenal of Democracy," a radio address delivered on December 29, 1940 Reprinted from The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940...

Spain dominated southwestern and southeastern North America until the late seventeenth century. Within twenty years of that time, however, Spanish influence had gone into decline as a result of English expansion into present-day South Carolina and...

The scientific trends in the United States during the late nineteenth century were representative of a sense of optimism fed by western expansion, new successes in treating disease, technological advances, and the progressive belief that society was...

By the time Europeans first encountered North America, there existed hundreds of Native American groups. Each people had its own history, culture, and language. The type of physical environment in which they lived largely determined their day-to-day...

Excerpt from "San Francisco: Gibraltar of the West Coast" Written by La Verne Bradley. Published in National Geographic Magazine, March 1943. "The impact of San Francisco at war comes like the kick of a big gun to anyone who...

Excerpt from "How You Are Helping" Published in Woman's Home Companion, June 1943. "You American women are doing no less than men in bringing the dream of victory closer to reality." In preparation for an article...

From the first contacts between Europeans and North American Indians to the present day, the area which today is the United States and Canada has been home to thousands of indigenous populations. Although most researchers have concluded that Native...

Key political events occurring in the colonies in the summer of 1775 seemed contradictory. On the one hand, the Sec ond Continental Congress was making a last attempt to avoid a break with Great Britain by sending the Olive Branch Peti tion to King...

As the British colonies on the eastern seaboard grew ever more crowded in the mid-1700s, colonists began to look westward, beyond the Appalachian Mountains, and imagine the incredible riches the continent had to offer. At first, only the hardiest souls...

The 1950s were a decade of tremendous energy in American writing. American writers gained international prominence thanks to the Nobel Prizes awarded to William Faulkner (1897–1962) in 1950 and Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) in 1952....

Historian Allan M. Winkler, in his 1986 book Home Front U.S.A.: America During World War II, provides the following saying, which was familiar among black Americans during World War II (1939–45), "Here lies a black man killed fighting a...

From the moment that Europeans set foot on the North American continent in the sixteenth century, they began to expand their influence westward. By the mid-eighteenth century that expansion had progressed to the point that there were thirteen British...

In an April 1943 National Geographic Magazine article titled "Farmers Keep Them Eating," Frederick Simpich writes: In the fields. That's where American farmers, including women, girls, and school children are fighting...

Though America had won its independence from England in the Revolutionary War (1776–83), the years following that war were hardly peaceful. Conflict with Indian tribes throughout the trans-Appalachian west (the area between the Appalachian...

By mid-1774 animosity (bitterness and hostility) between Great Britain and the American colonies had reached the boiling point. Poised on the brink of war with America, the British were wondering if the Americans would really fight. Most did not think...

Trade in North America began to undergo a sweeping transformation during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries because of the arrival of European traders, explorers, and fishermen. For thousands of years subsistence-based Native American tribes had...

Excerpt from "Argument for the Impeachment of President Johnson" Delivered in May 1868; reprinted on From Revolution to Reconstruction … and What Happened Afterwards (Web site) A fierce enemy of Andrew Johnson tells why the...

For more than three hundred years, white men battled Native Americans for control of the North American continent. From the early seventeenth century, when European settlers landed on the shores of the present-day United States, to nearly the dawn of...

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) had two major home front financial concerns during World War II (1939–45): how to finance the very expensive war effort and how to control the greatly altered home...

Correspondence with the City Leaders of Atlanta, Georgia September 11–12, 1864 A Union general responds to pleas to spare a city "We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in all America. To secure this, we must stop the war that now...

A Letter From Elizabeth Bacon William Sherwood "A Narrative of Bacon's Rebellion" Reprinted in Major Problems in American Colonial History Published in 1993 "...The Indians taking advantage of these civil commotions, have...

For many Americans in the 1930s one of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime was the day electric power came to their home. Often with great anticipation homes were readied for "zero hour," the moment the lines were energized....

Emperor Francis Joseph I (1848-1916) Emperor Tsai-t'ien (1875-1908), Empress Dowager Tz'u-hsi (regent, 1875-1889, 1898-1908) Presidents Marie Edme Patrice de MacMahon (1873-1879), Jules Grevy (1879-1887), Sadi Carnot (1887-1894),...

As in so many areas of life, Americans in the 1960s questioned past religious practices and searched for authenticity or genuineness in their spiritual experiences, whether in established faiths or in new religious groups that formed as cults or...

A Relacion of the Indyan Warre Reprinted in In Their Own Words: The Colonizers Published in 1998 "So the English were afraid and Philip was afraid and both increased in arms; but for forty years' time reports and jealousies of war had...

Austria (Habsburg Empire) — Emperor Francis (1804-1835); Ferdinand (1835-1848); Francis Joseph (1848-1916) China — Emperor Jia-qing (1796 — 1820); Tao Kuang (1820-1850) France — Emperor Napoleon I (1804-1814, 1815); Napoleon II...

Ming Hong Zhi, born Zhu You-Tang(1488-1505), Ming Zheng De, born Zhu Hou-Zhao(1506-1521), Ming Jia Jing, born Zhu Hou-Cong(1522-1566), Ming Long ing, born Zhu Zai-Hou(1567-1572), Ming Wan-Li, born Zhu Yi-Jun(1573-1619). John, (1481-1513),Christian...

American literature thrived in the 1960s, helped along by a culture that valued thinking—especially the thinking of young people who questioned the values of adults. A number of individuals who are now considered among America's best...

Born December 3, 1826 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Died October 29, 1885 Orange, New Jersey Union general known as "the young Napoleon" Commander of the Army of the Potomac in 1861–62 Democratic nominee for the presidency in...

United States 1860 The New England Shoemakers' Strike was the largest pre-Civil War labor event in the United States. Between February and April 1860, over 20,000 workers (including both men and women) from all over New England struck both for...

United States 1969 With the implementation of the Philadelphia Plan in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon's administration changed the federal government's stance on affirmative action. For the first time, a specific industry was required...

United States 1945-1946 In 1945 and 1946 the largest strike wave in U.S. history occurred when two million workers walked off their jobs at different times during the year. In some cities the strikes even led to general strikes as workers protested...

United States 1949-1950 In November 1949, at its eleventh annual convention in Cleveland, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) expelled two member unions—the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America and the Farm...

Excerpt from "A Complete and Graphic Account of the Crédit Mobilier Investigation" from Behind the Scenes in Washington Published in 1873; reprinted on Making of America Books (Web site) Evidence mounts against the vice president of...

Four continuities, or themes, link the disparate wars, rebellions, and revolutions that characterize English North America during its colonial and early national periods. Conflicts between English colonists and the Native American peoples whose lands...

A Black Soldier's Letter to President Abraham Lincoln Written September 28, 1863 An appeal for equal pay for black soldiers "We appeal to you, Sir, as the Executive of the Nation, to have us justly Dealt with. The Regt. do pray that they...

While the 1950s are stereotyped—sometimes unfairly—as a decade of quiet optimism, prosperity, and social conformity, the 1960s are often stereotyped—rather accurately—as a decade of turbulence, political activism, and...

Born July 11, 1746GermanyDied March 29, 1808Berlin, Germany Baroness, camp follower "I was an eyewitness of the whole affair [the Battle of Saratoga]…. I knew my husband was in the midst of it…. I shivered at every shot."...

1622 The first African slaves are brought to the British colonies in North America, which will eventually become the United States of America. 1803 The Louisiana Purchase adds about 800,000 square miles of new territory to the United States. 1820 The...

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United States 1884 The fight for a federal department of labor began in the late 1800s and spanned almost 50 years. Shortly after the Civil War, William H. Sylvis and the National Labor Union lobbied for a Department of Labor, but Congress was...

Born January 31, 1735Caen, FranceDied November 12, 1813Sarcelles, France Map maker, surveyor, farmer, writer, soldier, government...

The 1950s are most often remembered as a quiet decade, a decade of conformity, stability, and normalcy. After the tumult of the 1930s and 1940s—with their sustained economic depression (1929–41) and world war (1939–45)—the...

Born 1792Near Framingham,MassachusettsDied March 5, 1770Boston, Massachusetts Sailor, leader of the Boston Massacre Born 1766Philadelphia,PennsylvaniaDied 1842Philadelphia,Pennsylvania Sailor, sailmaker, inventor, businessman, social activist Former...

The United States faced several serious challenges as it entered the 1990s. On the one hand, the continued collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the United States was now the lone superpower in the world. America soon found out what that meant when...

Born c. 1809 Nashville, Tennessee Died 1892 St. Louis, Missouri Leader of "Kansas Exodus" and racial unity activist "I am the whole cause of the Kansas immigration!" Benjamin "Pap" Singleton was an African...

United States and Canada 1881 The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (FOTLU) was the predecessor of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which was proclaimed in 1886. FOTLU replaced the National Labor...

Born June 27, 1912 Riverside, California Died February 10, 2001 New York, New York Artist "What is beautiful about Citizen 13660 … and the reason it is still in print and used in college classes all across the country today, is that it...

United States 1864 The United States Congress's Act to Encourage Immigration legalized and bureaucratized a practice similar to indentured servitude. Under this measure, employers could contract with a foreign laborer to come to the United...

The United States entered the nineteenth century as an agrarian nation of five million residents. Within one hundred years, the United States transformed itself into the world's leading industrial power with a population of nearly seventy-six...

Robert Fechner: Born 1876 Chattanooga, Tennessee Died December 31, 1939 Washington, D.C. Administrator, union leader Aubrey Williams: Born August 23, 1890 Springville, Alabama Died March 5, 1965 Washington, D.C. Social worker,...

United States 1827 In 1827 journeymen tailors in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, went out on strike to protest the discharge of several colleagues who had demanded higher wages from their employer. After the tailors picketed, the employer took them to...

In the early nineteenth century most Americans believed that time was meant to be filled by work. They looked with disfavor on recreational pursuits, including sports, dancing, drinking, music, theater, and art. This stern view of life had religious,...

Born November 12, 1751Franklin County, PennsylvaniaDied c. 1800Westchester County, New York Camp follower, soldier A tablet in her honor at Corbin Place in New York City praises Margaret Cochran Corbin as the "first woman to take a...

Born April 17, 1823 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Died July 11, 1915 Little Rock, Arkansas Abolitionist, pioneer, businessman, lawyer, elected official, college president Mifflin Wistar Gibbs....

The economic boom that World War II (1939–45) started in America offered disposable income to more people than ever. With more people working, wages more than twice the norm of the previous decade, and businesses producing more and more consumer...

c.1601 Gloucester, England c.1671 Virginia Landowner and business agent " . . . it was better for the Collonys safety at the time in her hands then in any mans else in the whole Province. . . . " The Maryland Assembly. Margaret Brent was...

Born: c. 1629 Suffolk County, England Died: c. 1695 Ipswich, Massachusetts Homemaker, care giver, and accused witch Rachel Clinton was one of many people accused in the New England witch-hunts who regained her freedom in 1693 after a court-ordered...

Adopted by the Massachusetts Assembly Enacted June 16, 1773; excerpted from The Life of Thomas Hutchinson, Royal Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay "…The writer of these letters, signed Thomas Hutchinson, has been thus exerting...

Farewell Address to the Armies of the United States Issued on November 3, 1783; excerpted from George Washington's Writings, 1997 "The unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the U States, through almost every possible suffering and...

By the end of the nineteenth century, when it had become the world's leading industrial nation, the United States was home to many of the biggest and most successful business enterprises in the world. Although the Civil War did not directly...

In the eighteenth century civilians, both men and women, who traveled with the military were called camp followers. Camp followers included civilians in official, paid support roles for the military, soldiers' families, and civilians who...

Born October 22, 1746London, EnglandDied September 18, 1780Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Organization...

Born c. 1707Died December 19, 1774Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...

The term containment has taken on many meanings but it is mostly used to refer to a changing set of Cold War policies by which the United States tried to limit the extent and the spread of the Soviet Union's political or military influence....

Although most Americans continued to eat as they always had—at home, with freshly prepared foods—several important trends in American