American History Documents

Image of the publisher's notes from a page included in the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanac for 1792, by Benjamin Banneker. Clic...

This letter, which is maintained by the Dutch archives in The Hague, provides some evidence that the Dutch West India Company purchased Manhattan Isla...

When John Dillinger used a wooden gun to escape from the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, Melvin Purvis sent Director Hoover a telegram. ...

When John Dillinger used a wooden gun to escape from the Lake County jail in Crown Point, Indiana, Melvin Purvis sent Director Hoover a telegram. ...

From the first biography of Frederick Douglass, this image depicts the author's comments about his subject. Click on the image for a better view.

A richly illustrated article, about HMS Resolute, was published in the December 27, 1856 issue of The Illustrated London News. When the ship arrived ...

African-Americans who fought in World War I endured continuing racial discrimination after returning home. That was also true of the federal governmen...

This document, from the National Archives, is the draft of President Reagan's famous speech which he delivered in Berlin.  Included here is the p...

This document, from the National Archives, is the draft of President Reagan's famous speech which he delivered in Berlin.  Included here is the p...

Facsimile of the verdict in the trial of United States v. Susan B. Anthony. Click on the image for a better view.

This once-top-secret document, dated 2 October 1963, is the first page of a report which is part of the "Pentagon Papers." Robert McNamara and Maxwell...

The following is the Opinion of the Naval Court of Inquiry which examined whether Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and General Walter C. Short were in d...