Category : History

Though he never attained the highest office of his adopted country, few of America’s founders influenced its political system more than Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804). Born...

But the president’s role as commander in chief cut two ways. If it restrained him from alienating proslavery Unionists, it also empowered him to seize...

Robert E. Lee was an American soldier and Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was born on January 19, 1807, in Stratford Hall,...

In the years immediately following the Revolutionary War, the rural South—the region where slavery had taken the strongest hold in North America—faced an economic crisis....

John Brown’s raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) on October 16, 1859, was a pivotal event leading up to...

Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught lawyer, legislator, and vocal opponent of slavery was elected the 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before...

The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government. When armed conflict between...

After the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, the Founding Fathers turned to the composition of the states’ and then the federal Constitution. Although a...

John Adams (1735–1826), a pivotal figure in the American Revolution, served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801. Born in Braintree (now Quincy),...

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the freedom of speech, religion, and the press. It also protects the right to peaceful protest and...