Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Roe v. Wade and Its Impact
The subject of the legality of abortion has been a contentious one for decades. Read about the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973, and the subsequent attempts to maintain it and overturn it.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: "American Blood on American Soil"
President James Polk's desire was for the United States to stretch from sea to shining sea. See what happened when his overatures to Mexico to buy the land north of the Rio Grande River were spurned. Take a brief vote to see if Polk was...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Britain in the New World: The House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first elected legislature in the New World. Find out why the governmental conditions in England led to this representative government and how it was so different from the governing of colonies in...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Declaration of Independence
The idea behind the Declaration of Independence and the process of writing it involved a great deal of thought and hand-wringing. Read about the three separate parts of the declaration, and the audiences for which the document was aimed.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Experiments With Utopia
Read about the communities, often religious, that strove to be a Utopia, a perfect place where man's natural goodness would provide a good life. Several Utopian communities were spread across the East and Midwest.
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U.s. History: The Age of Jackson
An overview of the issues and changes to the political scene in the Age of Jackson. Read about the nullification crisis and Jackson's veto of the national bank charter, and the relocation of Native Americans. Find out about the...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a watershed event in the relations between the American colonists and their mother country. Read about what led up the shooting, the event itself, and its aftermath. Included is a contemporary account of the...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Mexican American War
The Mexican-American War fulfilled James Polk's desire to acquire the territory of New Mexico and California from Mexico. See how the fight was provoked, and read about Stephen Kearny's actions in New Mexico and John Fremont's in...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations
President Wilson lobbied for a "just peace" for the end of World War I. Read about his Fourteen Points that he thought would accomplish this. See how his plans for a League of Nations and the final terms of the Treaty of Versailles...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: America Rocks and Rolls
Read a brief history of rock and roll and its roots. See why this form of music shook the establishment and shattered the idea of conformity.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Three Senatorial Giants: Clay, Calhoun and Webster
Read about these three titans of the Senate from 1812 until their deaths in the 1850s. Their last struggle against each other was the issue of slavery. See how Henry Clay, the great compromiser, offered one last compromise to try to keep...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking: Smuggling
The economic theory of mercantilism led to wholesale smuggling by the American colonists. Read about why the idea of mercantilism was so abhorrent to the colonists, and look at the attempts the British made to make the colonists obey....
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: George Washington: Farwell Address
Although he surely could have remained in office longer, George Washington served only two terms in office. Read about his Farewell Address, one of the important speeches in American history. He gave advice concerning both national and...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Anasazi
The Anasazi, the "ancient ones," were an important group among the early Southwest Indians. Read a description of their culture, housing, arts, and possible reasons for their disappearance.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Patrick Henry
This site presents some quick facts about Patrick Henry, followed by a more in-depth biography.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Manhattan Project
Read about the Manhattan Project, the United States' attempt to create an atomic bomb before the scientists in Nazi Germany were able to.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Reconstruction
A very good overview of Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War. Find the questions that needed to be answered about how to reincorporate the Confederate states, what rights freed blacks would have, and how terms of...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Women's Rights
Read about some outspoken women in the 1830s and 1840s, who began speaking out for reforms of many kinds, particularly on the issue of slavery and the rights of women to vote. The Seneca Falls Declaration pushed this idea of equality.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Inventors and Inventions
The industrial revolution in America spawned the inventions of many inventors, who improved technology in many different areas. See how transportation, agriculture, and communications were transformed because of these inventions.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: West African Society at the Point of European Contact
Prior to European contact, western Africa's powerful kingdoms supported the arts, technology, and thriving economies. Read about the areas from which slaves were transported before the transatlantic trade began.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Cotton and African American Life
But for the invention of the cotton gin, slavery perhaps would have died out in the United States in the early 19th century. Read about why technological advances caused the spread of slavery in the South and read about how slaves clung...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Reactions to a Troubled World
Read about the rising militarism and fascism in Europe and Asia as dictators expanded their territories. See how the United States reacted with its series of three neutrality acts.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: The Age of Atlantic Revolutions
The American Revolution fomented change throughout the trans-Atlantic area. Read about the revolution's influence on the French and their overthrowing of their king, and the slave revolt which brought about the second republic in the New...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Pearl Harbor
A concise look at the economic relations between Japan and the United States just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Find out what the Japanese hoped to achieve with the attack, and read about the American response.