Browse Items (217 total)
Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon, Photograph, September 11, 2001
On the morning of September 11, 2001, members of the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda launched a coordinated attack against the United States. They hijacked four planes scheduled to be cross-country flights from the East Coast to California. American…
The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, December 15, 1791
The struggle for the ratification of the United States Constitution convinced some political leaders that amendments were needed to protect individual liberties from the strengthened national government created by the Constitution. During the First…
The Crime of Being Married, Loving v. Virginia, 1967
The Loving v. Virginia case ended a long history of banning marriage between white and Black Virginians dating back to the 17th century. In 1878 the General Assembly enacted a law punishing both parties in an interracial marriage with prison…
The Federalist Papers, Number 10, 1787
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention approved a new constitution for the United States on September 17, 1787. But before it could be adopted, nine states had to ratify the document. It had the support of some of America's brightest statesman…
The Federalist Papers, Number 51, 1788
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention approved a new constitution for the United States on September 17, 1787. But before it could be adopted, nine states had to ratify the document. Despite it having the support of America's brightest statesman…
The First Vote, Engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1867
With the end of the Civil War came the end of slavery in the American South. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on December 9, 1865, officially outlawed slavery. Racial hostilities towards formerly enslaved men and…
The United States, Map, 1816
Completed in 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France. In it, the United States acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River from French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte for…
The Verdict, Anti-Saloon League Flyer, April-May 1919
At the turn of the twentieth century, the call for the prohibition of alcohol had become a national issue, advocated by many politicians and pushed by several strong organizations. The American Temperance Society, started in 1826, acted as a support…
The Virginia Declaration of Rights (George Mason's Draft)
Virginia's Fifth Revolutionary Convention met at the Capitol in Williamsburg from May 6 to July 5, 1776, and declared independence from Great Britain. The delegates also voted to prepare a constitution for Virginia as well as a statement of rights.…
The Young Crusader, Woman’s Christian Temperance Magazine for Children, 1934
"Agitate – Educate – Legislate” was the slogan of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, which advocated the prohibition of alcohol. Established in 1874 in Ohio, the union became a national movement and Virginia women established a state chapter in…