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."

Sam Houston, former President of the Republic of Texas, wanted to travel outside his country.  To do so, he obtained this passport in 1839. It p...

Full text of Samuel Gompers' recorded speech. Labor's Service to FreedomFellow countrymen, our republic, our people, are at war. Whatever individua...

Wade Netherland believed he "owned" a slave named Samuel Howell.  This image depicts an advertisement which Netherland ran in the The Virginia Ga...

This is an excerpt from the oral history of Sarah Graves, also known as "Aunt Sally." Note that to maintain authenticity, writers transcribed the ora...

This text image depicts another excerpt from the oral history of Sarah Graves (also known as "Aunt Sally").  Interviewed in the 1930s, as part o...

During the 1930s, the federal government hired writers to interview former slaves and to obtain their oral histories. This is page 1 of the oral hist...

This is page 2 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 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 4 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...

Sarah Hale wrote to President Lincoln asking that Thanksgiving be made a national holiday.

Among other things in his December 8th report, Hopkins notes - at page two - the FBI's efforts to get a confession from Deputy Sheriff Cecil Price: ...

Show tooltips