NHD 2019: Early U.S. History

Last Updated on September 27, 2020

Salem Witch Trials

• Today in History: Salem Witch Trials background, primary sources, secondary sources

American Settlers Versus Native Americans

• Stories from America’s Library
  • Raid of Deerfield, Massachusetts in Queen Anne’s War
  • Roger Williams & Freedom in Rhode Island
• Curated source collections: background, primary sources, secondary sources
  • Thanksgiving
  • Wampanoag
  • Jamestown
  • Captivity Narratives
  • Fort Necessity & the French and Indian War
  • Religion and the Founding of the American Republic online exhibition
  • Indian Removal: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
  • Native Peoples: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820
  • French and Indians of Illinois River 1874
  • Indian Land Cessions in the United States, 1784 to 1894
• Individual primary sources & secondary sources
  • The beginnings of English America : Sir Walter Raleigh’s settlements on Roanoke Island, 1584-1587
  • Sir Walter Raleigh’s lost colony
  • The History of Virginia, in Four Parts 1722
  • George Rogers Clark to Patrick Henry, April 29, 1779, Illinois Expedition; Capture of British Trading Post at Vincennes
  • Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, June 19, 1779, George Rogers Clark and Illinois Expedition; Capture of British Trading Post at Vincennes
  • History of Lieutenant-Colonel George Rogers Clark’s conquest of the Illinois and of the Wabash towns from the British in 1778 and 1779
  • Indian Land Cessions in Illinois 1784-1894
  • The transition in Illinois from British to American government 1909
  • Great Britain and the Illinois country, 1763-1774 1910
  • The last of the Illini; or, The legend of Starved Rock, a tale of Illinois 1916

The Winter of Valley Forge: Triumph and Tragedy in the Continental Army

• Today in History: Valley Forge background, primary sources, secondary sources

The Three-Fifths Compromise

• Fragment of an original letter on the slavery of the negroes; written in the year 1776, by Thomas Day, Esq
• James Madison correspondence related to slavery
• Madison Debates July 11, 1787 Avalon Project
• Madison Debates July 12, 1787 Avalon Project
• The Constitution a pro-slavery compact; or, Extracts from the Madison papers, etc. selected by Wendell Phillips 1856
• Mysteries of Madison’s Notes of the Constitutional Convention streaming webcast (search the transcript for mentions of slavery)
• Extract from an Address to the people of the state of New-York, on the subject of the federal Constitution John Jay 1788
• The Apportionment of Members Among the States: Federalist No. 54 Tuesday, February 12, 1788
• Northwest Ordinance
  • Jefferson’s Plan of Government for the Western Territory | background information and analysis questions
  • The Northwest and the Ordinances, 1783-1858
  • Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Roots of Lewis and Clark primary sources & secondary source information
  • Land ordinance congressional legislation April 23, 1784
  • An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of locating and disposing of lands in the Western Territory May 28, 1784
  • An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory March 4, 1785
  • An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory March 16, 1785
  • An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory April 12, 1785
  • An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory May 18, 1785
  • A supplement to an ordinance entitled, “An ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory” March 19, 1788
  • Northwest Ordinance Prohibits Slavery online exhibition item
  • Northwest Ordinance digital resource guide links to related primary sources
• The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship
  • Slavery—The Peculiar Institution
  • Abolition, Anti-Slavery Movements, and the Rise of the Sectional Controversy

Smallpox and Innoculation

• The Fight Over Inoculation During the 1721 Boston Smallpox Epidemic Science in the News, Harvard University
• An historical account of the small-pox inoculated in New-England 1726 Internet Archive
• George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Massachusetts House of Representatives, October 5, 1775, Smallpox Resolution
• U.S. historical newspaper articles mentioning smallpox and inoculation 1789-99
• The cowpox tragedy – scene the last 1812
• Smallpox primary sources
• Smallpox: inoculation and vaccination Science Museum’s History of Medicine
• The Smallpox Story: Life and Death of an Old Disease Abbas M. Behbehani Microbiological Reviews, Dec. 1983, p. 455-509

Impressment of Sailors: An American Tragedy?

• Impressed seamen from Salem from the Salem Gazette of March 30, 1813. [and] April 2, 1813
• Observations on Croker-War, Impressment of sailors James Madison, May 15, 1813.
• Impressment-related primarysources
• Impressment historical newspaper mentions 1789-1820