Scholastic
Scholastic: Lucretia Mott: Woman of Courage
Read about the issues that motivated Lucretia Mott to become an abolitionist and fighter for women's rights.
University of Virginia
Virginia Center for Digital History: United States Expansion, 1800 1860
An essay that looks at issues affecting Americans leading up to the Civil War. These included economic changes that led to new ideological, social, cultural, and political issues that further divided the nation along moral and regional...
Digital History
Digital History: The Impending Crisis: Conclusion
A concise review of the ways the issue of slavery split the country from the Missouri Compromise to eventual secession of the southern states.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: An Explosion of New Thought
The 19th century brought an Americanization of literature, art, thought, and social reform. Read about how the Second Great Awakening brought a revival in religion and sparked reform movements in suffrage, slavery, and treatment of...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Constitution Through Compromise
Read about how compromises were reached at the Philadelphia convention that dealt with issues between large and small states, and slave and free states. Take the quick quiz to assess knowledge about the writing of the Constitution.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Making of African American Identity: Emigration
Proposals for and arguments against the emigration of blacks to Haiti and to Africa during the mid-nineteenth century. The struggle of African Americans, such as Martin Delany, to determine the appropriate course of action with this...
Digital History
Digital History: How Revolutionary Was the American Revolution?
How did the American Revolution reflect a change in American society? Read about how political participation increased across the classes, and see how the question of slavery and women's rights became a thorn in the side of those...
Utah State University
Utah State University: Teacher Link: Human Rights Films
This is a list and brief description of historically-based human rights films. Topics include civil rights, slavery, political activism, workers' rights and HIV.
Other
International Human Rights Law Group
Human rights organization that help promote equality, seeks justice for victims of human rights abuses, and more. Find pictures, maps, and information about human rights issues.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Early Statehood
From annexation in 1845 to secession from the Union in 1861, early Texas statehood was marked by several major issues. Learn about four of these issues: annexation, slavery, the 1850 Boundary Act, and secession.
Other
Republican Party: Our History
Read the first few paragraphs of this article to find out about the formation of the Republican Party in 1854 and how it affected the political scene in the last part of the 1850s.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: Henry Clay: Review of the Debate on the Compromise Bills
Henry Clay's speech in the Senate in support of the Compromise of 1850 and the importance of preserving the Union.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: America in 1850: Daniel Webster: Speech to the u.s. Senate, March 7, 1850
Links to Senator Daniel Webster's famous plea, amidst the turmoil of sectional conflict, for national unity and his support of the Compromise of 1850.
Northern Illinois University
Teaching Future Historians: Antebellum Era Lesson Plans
Several lesson plans covering a range of topics from the 1830s through 1860. These plans will give your students experience using primary sources.
Yale University
The Avalon Project: Kansas Nebraska Act 1854
The complete text of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, called an Act to Organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas.
University of Chicago
Special Collections Library: Stephen A. Douglas and the American Union
Provides information about the Great Debate between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Fort Scott National Historic Site: Bleeding Kansas
Discusses the effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In particular, the site details incidents from the period known as "Bleeding Kansas."
BBC
Bbc History: British History: Empire: British Slaves on the Barbary Coast
A fascinating article examining the issue of white Europeans who ended up being sold or kidnapped into slavery in North Africa during the 17th century. Archived.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: James Buchanan: A Life in Brief
A brief look at James Buchanan as president and the controversies he faced. From the Miller Center.
University of Virginia
Miller Center at Uva: u.s. Presidents: Franklin Pierce: Campaigns and Elections
An interesting account of the political conventions which had trouble choosing a candidate, and the lack of campaigning for president in the election of 1852. From the Miller Center.
US Senate
U.s. Senate: The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner
Describes Preston Brooks' attack on Senator Charles Sumner, May 22, 1856, in the Senate after Sumner's famous speech, "Crimes Against Kansas."
Digital History
Digital History: The Crisis of 1833: Tariffs and Nullification [Pdf]
Andrew Jackson became president at a contentious time with strains already showing between the interests of the North and South. Read about the Tariff of Abominations, South Carolina's reaction to it, and Andrew Jackson's handling of the...
Digital History
Digital History: Evangelical Revivalism
A look at the culture of religious revivals and the part the revivals played in the revitalization of religious participation by many groups of people.
Digital History
Digital History: Western Expansion: Conclusion
A good overview of the territorial expansion and its results that occurred in the United States over the first half of the 19th century.