Historical Documents

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)
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)
Lincoln First Inaugural Address
First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
John Brown Song
Glory hally, hallelujah! or The John Brown song. H. De Marsan, 54 Chatham Street, N.Y.
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)
John Demos
My Favorite Historical Novel by John Demos
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Texas Revolution
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)
Hand written Emancipation Proclamation 1863
Emancipation Proclamation 1863
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)
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)
Sam Waterson
Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address, as read by Sam Waterston May 23, 2004
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)
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project
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)
Lincoln as They Saw Him by Herbert Mitgang- Excerpt
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Lee Letter
Robert E. Lee’s Demand for the Surrender of John Brown and His Party
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
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)
H.R. 14
H.R.14 — 38th Congress (1863-1865)
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Amendments Proposed by the Peace Conference, February 8-27, 1861
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
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)
Title Page
The Confessions of Nat Turner- Excerpt
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
No Annexation of Texas
Texas Annexation Treaty
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Lincoln Address
Cooper Union Address
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Grant Inauguration
First Inaugural Address of Ulysses S. Grant
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Mary Todd Lincoln letter
Letter from Abraham Lincoln to Mary Todd Lincoln
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)
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)
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis' Farewell Address
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

Historical Images

Infantry regiment
Infantry regiment in camp. [Probably 96th Pennsylvania Infantry at Camp Northumberland near Washington, DC, ca. 1861] Mathew Brady Collection. (Army) ca. 1861
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Sheet Music
“The Battle-Cry of Freedom” with Confederate Lyrics
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)
Lincoln print
The Union must and shall be preserved. For President Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. For Vice President Hannibal Hamlin of Maine.
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)
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)
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Horrid Massacre in Virginia- Composite of scenes of Nat Turner’s rebellion
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
Lincoln cartoon
The National Game. Three "Outs" and One "Run" – Abraham Winning the Ball
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Emancipation by Thomas Nast
Emancipation by Thomas Nast
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Secession Movement Political Cartoon
The "Secession Movement"
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
John Brown Cartoon
John Brown exhibiting his hangman
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
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)
Tragic Prelude
Tragic Prelude by John Steuart Curry
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
William Sherman
Gen. William T. Sherman
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)

Collections

Nat Turner
Nat Turner Revisited, by William Styron
ERA 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861), ERA 10: Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
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)
John Brown
The Father of American Terrorism, by Ken Chowder
ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)
Lincoln at the Time of the Cooper Union Speech
Lincoln, the Orator 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)