Digital History
Digital History: The Kansas Nebraska Act
An explanation of how the Kansa-Nebraska Act in effect voided the Missouri Compromise, which had been the law that dictated the territories that could allow slavery. Read about the act proposed by Stephen A. Douglas, and see how a...
Digital History
Digital History: "Bleeding Kansas" and "Bleeding Sumner"
Read about how the concept of popular sovereignty expressed in the Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in political intrigue and murder in Kansas and the caning of a U.S. Senator in the Senate chamber.
Digital History
Digital History: The Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott decision caused a ripple throughout the country. Read a summary of Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney's proslavery decision, and see how it intensified the rancor between the North and the South.
Digital History
Digital History: The Lincoln Douglas Debates
Historic debates, both in substance and form, were held between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in the Illinois Senate race in 1858. Read about the debates, where tht two men stood on the issue of slavery, and its place in the...
Digital History
Digital History: Harper's Ferry
Read about the infamous raid on Harper's Ferry by John Brown and his band in 1859. His first plan had a chance of success thought Frederick Douglass, but the plan that was carried out was doomed from the start. See what John Brown was...
Digital History
Digital History: Enslavement
A very good description of how Africans were enslaved in Africa for sale to the Europeans. See how the introduction of European weapons changed the dynamic in West Africa.
Digital History
Digital History: Middle Passage
The number of Africans who died or were enslaved as a result of slave trading both across the Atlantic and into the Arabian peninsula is truly shocking. Read about the Middle Passage which brought millions of slaves to the New World, see...
Digital History
Digital History: The Slave Trade's Significance
An explanation of the significance of the slave trade in the colonial economy as well as in Europe. See why the slave trade stimulated manufacturing and resulted in the transatlantic triangular trade.
Digital History
Digital History: The Origins of New World Slavery
Read about the initial slow introduction of slave labor into the colonies, which accelerated because of the slaves' knowledge of growing crops, and the decline in the institution of indentured servitude.
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery in Colonial America
A very interesting look at slaves and free blacks in colonial America, especially in the South, up to about 1660. See how the concept of slavery and the use of slaves was fluid until that time.
Digital History
Digital History: The Diversity of Colonial Slavery
Read about the three distinct systems of slavery that developed in the colonies based primarily on the crops that were grown in each region. See how the system affected the way the culture of slaves grew out of the region.
Digital History
Digital History: Slavery's Evolution
From the 1740s until 1860 there were great changes in the slavery system, slave culture, and where slaves lived. Read about these changes and the beginnings of anti-slavery ideas.
Digital History
Digital History: The American Revolution and Slavery
Read about the plans for using slaves in both the British and Continental armies during the Revolutionary War. See why some of the plans were scuttled and how the end of the war affected blacks who fought and those who remained in the...
Digital History
Digital History: What Was Life Like Under Slavery?
A sobering look at the life of the plantation slave in the decades before the Civil War. Read about the malnutrition, severe treatment, and inadequate living conditions.
Digital History
Digital History: Slave Labor
Not all slaves worked in the fields. Read about the jobs of many skilled workers who were slaves in the South. Read also about the slaves who were field hands and find out about the harsh labor conditions they endured.
Digital History
Digital History: Slave Family Life
An extensive look at the family life of slaves and the attempts to maintain family ties under daunting circumstances. Read about slave marriages, the splitting up of families, and the ways the family kinship networks operated on the...
Digital History
Digital History: Slave Culture
Find out about the contributions African slaves and African American slaves made to not only their culture, but American culture in general. See what words have African roots, how African culture influenced food and music, and how there...
Digital History
Digital History: American Slavery in Comparative Perspective
A very interesting look at the similarities and differences between the treatment of slaves in Latin America and the Caribbean and the slaves in the American South. Read about why a crucial difference was the concept of race between the...
![Digital History: More Like the Tva? [Pdf] Website](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Digital History: More Like the Tva? [Pdf] Website")
Digital History
Digital History: More Like the Tva? [Pdf]
Read the history of the Tennessee River Valley and the tension between private enterprise and government in the development of electricity and, surprisingly, fertilizer. Find out how the Tennessee Valley Authority was developed during...
Digital History
Digital History: Legacy of the New Deal
This is just a short article, but it includes big ideas. See the lasting legacy of the New Deal as the many of the programs begun at that time are still a large part of American government and life.
Digital History
Digital History: Hollywood During the Great Depression
One can trace the cynicism and despair at the beginning of the Great Depression to a more optimistic point of view by the end of the New Deal by looking at the movies produced by Hollywood. Read about the subject matter of the movies...
Digital History
Digital History: The Depression of 1937
Read about the "Roosevelt Recession" that resulted from the slashing of government spending because of rosy economic news in 1936. Find out how opposition to the New Deal kept it from being expanded to help the country out of recession...
Digital History
Digital History: The New Deal in Decline
The Supreme Court, in 1935 and 1936, found unconstitutional several programs that were the backbone of the New Deal. See how President Roosevelt tried to deal with these setbacks, and the results both for him personally and for the law.
Digital History
Digital History: Native Americans
Find out about how Native Americans fared during the passage of so much legislation during the New Deal. See which progams helped them, and read about the changes made in decades-old laws.