Historical Documents

S.123 — 38th Congress (1863-1865)
S.123 - A Bill To abolish slavery throughout all the States and Territories of the United States.
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
This political cartoon illustrates James Buchanan beset by figures who employ quotes from the Ostend Manifesto to legitimize their criminal acts.
Ostend Manifesto
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Lincoln Assassination Headline
Announcement to the Army of the Death of President Lincoln
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Amnesty Oath
Amnesty Oath of Robert E. Lee
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
John Demos
My Favorite Historical Novel by John Demos
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
John Brown Entrance Into Hell Song
John Brown's Entrance Into Hell.
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Black Code
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Court Proceedings and Testimony Regarding the Denmark Vesey Rebellion
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Lincoln First Inaugural Address
First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Cover Page
Fear of Insurrection: Chapter 12 of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Lincoln and Hamlin Image
Book Review by Chandra Miller Manning
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
No Annexation of Texas
Texas Annexation Treaty
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Rail Splitter
“The Last Race of the Rail-Splitter,” Broadside, ca. 1861
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Rep. Joe Courtney
Ahead of Oscars, Courtney asks Spielberg, DreamWorks to correct Lincoln inaccuracy that places Connecticut on wrong side of slavery debate
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Amendments Proposed in Congress by Senator John J. Crittenden
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Broadside of John Brown's Last Speech
John Brown's Speech to the Court at his Trial
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States; signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress Congress, Wednesday, February 01, 1865
Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States; signed by Abraham Lincoln and Congress Congress, Wednesday, February 01, 1865
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
John Brown Constitution Cover Page
Pamphlet, John Brown’s "Provisional Constitution and Ordinances for the People of the United States"
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Steven Spielburg
Gettysburg Dedication Day Ceremony a Naturalization Ceremony & remarks from Steven Spielberg
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Lincoln Address
Cooper Union Address
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Pamphlet
Democratic ticket. Our principals the Constitution. For President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky For Vice President Joseph Lane of Oregon
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Thoreau
A Plea for Captain John Brown- Excerpts
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Frederick Douglass Address Cover Page
John Brown: An Address
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
William Styron
The Confessions of William Styron by Yvonne French
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Charleston Mercury Article
The Insurrection
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Fugitive Slave Bill Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Molefi Kete Asante
The Real Nat Turner by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin on Lincoln, The Movie and Man- Excerpt
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Argument of Roger S. Baldwin Before the Supreme Court in the Case of U.S. Appellants vs. Cinque, and Other, Africans of the Amistad
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Corwin Amendment
Joint Resolution Proposing a 13th Amendment to the Constitution
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

Historical Images

John Brown Cartoon
John Brown. Meeting the slave-mother and her child on the steps of Charlestown jail on his way to execution
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Secession Movement Political Cartoon
The "Secession Movement"
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Lincoln cartoon
The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Run" – Abraham Winning the Ball
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
James Buchanan surrounded by criminal quoting the Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Doctrine
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Lincoln Photo
Abraham Lincoln on the day of his speech at the Cooper Union
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Douglas Letter
Bust of Stephen Douglas over Northern Democratic Party's presidential campaign shield
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Scene in the House on the passage of the proposition to amend the Constitution, January 31, 1865
Scene in the House on the passage of the proposition to amend the Constitution, January 31, 1865
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Harvest of Death
Pennsylvania, Gettysburg. A Harvest of Death
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Political Cartoon
A Family Quarrel, or the Reason Why.
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Map of the Union 1864
Bacon and Company, Map of the United States, showing the territory in possession of the Federal Union, January, 1864
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Horrid Massacre in Virginia- Composite of scenes of Nat Turner’s rebellion
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Stonewall Jackson
General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Political Cartoon
Substance and Shadow Political Cartoon
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Jefferson Davis captured
[Jefferson Davis dressed in women's clothing being captured in a tent by two Union soldiers as two women and an African American man look on] / Francis Hacker.
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

Collections

John Brown, the Abolitionist
The Father of American Terrorism, by Ken Chowder
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind
Hollywood History, by Mark C. Carnes
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
Lincoln at the Time of the Cooper Union Speech
Lincoln, the Orator by Harold Holzer
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Abraham Lincoln & Hannibal Hamlin
America’s Oddest Election, by Harold Holzer
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Nat Turner
Children of Darkness, by Stephen B. Oates
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)