What the law requires (or allows) is not always fair or just or honorable. Politics is often polarizing. Stories in this collection help us to examine the highs and lows of "the law" over the centuries.
This image depicts a broadside, now maintained by the British Museum, published circa 1606. It tells the story of the Gunpowder Plot, the conspi...
Richard Henry Lee's Resolution, declaring that the American Colonies were no longer subject to British control, is one of America's most-treasured doc...
This image depicts the original resolution, put before the Second Continental Congress by Henry Lee, to break America’s ties with Great Britain:...
This Resolution, made by Richard Henry Lee and seconded by John Adams in the Second Continental Congress, brought the colonies a step closer to indepe...
This is page 3 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview. Click on the image for a bett...
This is page 5 of the oral history of Sarah Grudger who claimed to be 121 years old at the time of the interview. Click on the image for a bett...
Image of the Slave Roster from the records of the Molly slave ship. Maintained by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, U.K. From the Unders...
This is a page from the 1840 work entitled A History of the Amistad Captives. It depicts a map of the western part of Africa, including an area ...
This document, filed with the U.S. District Court for the State of Maryland, was permitted under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. It was submitted a...
This image depicts the second page of a bill of sale by which a slave owner named Jacob Cook purchased four slaves "for life." The slaves, of ...
Since it became America's capital city, circa 1800, Washington City had slaves. This compendium includes laws impacting slavery in the District.
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