American History Documents

America - still a young country by world standards - began as an experiment in self-government. This collection includes stories of America's people as they follow a path of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

This issue of the Southern Literary Messenger - dated December, 1835 - contains Poe's story M.S. Found in a Bottle.  (See "Selected Prose Article...

In order for Prohibition violations to occur, on a regular basis, people who were hired to enforce the law had to ignore what was going on.  Ther...

This facsimile image depicts the police blotter for April 14, 1865.  See the last entry where the reporting officer has noted that the President ...

Sermons, like this one from clergy like Abraham Keteltas, supported colonial revolutionary ideas by saying that God and Biblical authority backed thei...

Image of the preface page from The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, written by William Still. Click on the ima...

Image of the 2nd page of the preface from The Underground Railroad: A Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters written by William Still. Click ...

Barack Obama issued his first Presidential Proclamation on the day he was sworn in - January 20, 2009.  Announcing a National Day of Renewal and ...

Image of President Johnson's daily diary, for the 4th of August 1964, page 3. Click on the image for a better view.

This image depicts the second page of LBJ's daily diary for March 31, 1968 - the day he announced to the American people that he would not seek, and w...

Image of President Johnson's daily diary, for the 4th of August 1964, page 11. Click on the image for a better view.

This image depicts a from LBJ's daily diary for March 31, 1968 - the day he announced to the American people that he would not seek, and would not acc...

Image of an Associated Press article regarding U.S. President Kennedy returning to Washington D.C. early, presumably because he is ill. Click on the ...

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