A collection of important documents highlighting events in United States history. These at one point were on display in the Rotunda of the National Archives Building. Each document is accompanied by a short description of its significance.

By reading this section of a chapter on "Westward Expansion," students will be able to explain the significance of the Louisiana Purchase and describe the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty and the role played by the filibuster in American...

An 1814 American map of the territory of the lower Mississippi valley; part of the larger Louisiana Purchase that President Jefferson purchased from the French in 1803.

This site, from the Library of Congress, provides a recording project by the WPA during the Depression Era of folk music collected throughout the southern states of the U.S. Supplemented by photos and other material to document life...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, a freeborn black who was a Union officer in the American Civil War and a leader in Louisiana politics during Reconstruction (1865-77).

An interesting biography of P.B.S. Pinchback, first African American to be governor of any state. Read about his childhood, his life in politics, and his education to be a lawyer.

Excerpted from the Colonial Williamsburg Journal, this essay offers details of Thomas Jefferson's life and his long and varied career.

Thomas Cole was best known for his landscape paintings which embodied the beauty and grandeur of the American wilderness during the first half of the nineteenth century. When viewed through the lens of nineteenth-century political...

This collection of United States maps includes a year-by-year. Beginning from the Declaration of Independence and extending to present-day, students will learn explore and interact with these maps that change year-by-year.

A collection that uses primary sources to explore the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

This collection includes family histories, biographies, oral and video history, and archival material about the descendants of people owned by the Jesuits of the Maryland Province, including those sold to Louisiana in 1838.

To commemorate the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, the U.S. Mint modified the nickel to reflect these national milestones. This page has images of the 2005 obverse design of President Jefferson...

On March 12, 2017, the New York Times published the only known photograph of a Georgetown University slave sold to Louisiana in the infamous 1838 sale. The man in the photograph, Frank Campbell, lived a long and fascinating life. In this...

A series of lessons utilizing primary texts, including narratives, photographs, and maps, through which students explore the following question: "What motivated thousands of people to journey west during the 1800s?"

A 10-minute movie showing the expansion of the United States after the end of the Revolutionary War. Follow the directions to start the movie and listen to the explanations.

A great map and a list of the acquisitions and border changes of the United States from 1804 to 1823. A concise resource showing Western expansion.

This website gives a brief account of the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War) up to the Fall of Quebec.

Here's a map to show you when states were added to the Union. It also shows territories and when they were acquired.