On February 12, 1809, Nancy Hanks Lincoln gave birth to her second child, a son that she and her husband Thomas Lincoln named Abraham. Abraham Lincoln grew up as the son of a poor farmer. Yet, he became the 16th President of the United States. How...
Aside from nice weather, what do California and Hawaii have in common? Spanish longhorn cattle. Today, we explore how Spanish longhorn cattle influenced the early American and environmental histories of California and Hawaii with John Ryan Fischer...
How did average, poor, and enslaved men and women live their day-to-day lives in the early United States? Today, we explore the answers to that question with Simon P. Newman, a Professor of History at the University of Glasgow and our guide for an...
The American Civil War claimed more than 620,000 American lives. Did you know that it also cost American forests, landscapes, cities, and institutions? Today, we explore the different types of ruination wrought by the Civil War with Megan Kate...
Did you know that when James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, it consisted of 36 amendments and that the House of Representatives did not want to consider or debate Madison's proposed Constitutional amendments? Today, we explore the Bill of...
Between the 1830s and 1860s, a clandestine communications and transportation network called the “Underground Railroad” helped thousands of slaves escape to freedom. Today, we investigate this secret network with Eric Foner, a Pulitzer Prize-winning...
Do you know what we have in common with our early American forebears? Taxes. As Benjamin Franklin stated in 1789, “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Given the certainty of taxes it seems important that we understand how the United States’...
Between 1754 and 1763, North Americans participated in the French and Indian War; a world war Europeans call the Seven Years’ War. As this world war raged, many South Carolinians, Virginians, Britons, and Cherokee people also fought a war for land...
Who was John Jay? Jay played important and prominent roles during the founding of the United States and yet, his name isn’t one that many would list if asked to name founding fathers. Today, we explore John Jay and his contributions to the founding...
Much like the United States, the colonists of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti) sought their independence from France by fighting a war and waging a revolution. However, unlike the Americans, the Saint Dominguans who fought the war and waged the...