 Washington,
D.C., 1800
Abigail Adams describes the new capital
and her ordeal in getting there.
President
Jefferson in the White House
His pet bird, the introduction of
the dumb waiter, and dinner conversation - a frequent visitor
provides a portrait of Jefferson as President.
 A
Duel At Dawn, 1804
The fatal meeting of Vice President
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton on a New Jersey field.
The Death of Lord Nelson, 1805
"I am a dead
man, Hardy. I am going fast: it will be all over with me
soon." Britain's greatest naval hero meets his Maker during
the Battle of Trafalgar.
Fulton's
First Steamboat Voyage, 1807
"I could hear
distinctly repeated- 'I told you it was so; it is a foolish
scheme: I wish we were well out of it.'
"Old
Ironsides" Earns its Name, 1812
"...we commenced
a very heavy fire from all our guns, loaded with round, and
grape..." Barely 50 yards from her opponent, the USS Constitution shoots
it out with a British frigate and wins the name "Old Ironsides."
The
British Burn Washington, 1814
British troops sack Washington during
the War of 1812.
The
Battle of New Orleans, 1815
"Well, in eighteen and fourteen
we took a little trip along with Colonel Jackson down the
mighty Missip." A rag-tag force of Americans rout the
world's mightiest military power in the last battle of the
War of 1812.
The
Battle of Waterloo, 1815
Napoleon's bid to dominate Europe is
squashed with his defeat on a Belgian battlefield.
Napoleon
Exiled to St. Helena, 1815
The French Emperor is banished to a
desolate, rock-crusted island in the South Atlantic.
The Inauguration of President of President Andrew Jackson, 1829
"Ladies fainted, men were seen with
bloody noses and such a scene of confusion took place as
is impossible to describe," The celebration of the inauguration of the "People's
President" gets out of hand.
Aboard
a Slave Ship, 1829
"The slaves were all inclosed under
grated hatchways between decks." A minister recounts his
experience of boarding a slave ship stopped off the coast
of Africa
America's
First Steam Locomotive, 1830
It was not a spectacular beginning:
in its first outing, the locomotive Tom Thumb was
beaten by a horse.
Traveling
the Erie Canal, 1836
It was the engineering marvel of its
day. It made New York City America's premier port and opened
up the West to the first wave of settlement. Ride along on
a canal boat - but watch out for those low bridges!
A Slave's Life
"When I was about seven years old I witnessed, for the first time, the sale of a human being." A former slave describes her life.
Victoria
Becomes Queen, 1837
The 18 year-old Victoria describes
to her diary the day she became Queen of the world's mightiest
empire.
Escape
From Slavery, 1838
Frederick Douglass describes his dash
to freedom.
NEW!
A Flogging at Sea, 1839
"Swinging the rope over his head, and bending his body so as to give it full force, the captain brought it down upon the poor fellow's back. Once, twice - six times."
 Living
among the Shakers, 1843
"During the dance the sisters kept
on one side, and the brothers on the other, and not a word
was spoken by any of them." The Shakers attempt to construct
their own Utopia.
Visit
to the "Red Light" District, 1843
"...there passed me a man holding
up under his arm a woman who was so drunk that she could
not walk alone." Descend into the dark side of early Victorian
society in urban America.
The
Irish Potato Famine, 1847
"I saw the dying, the living, and the dead, lying indiscriminately upon the same floor." Travel with a reporter as he observes Ireland's greatest disaster
Aboard
a Whaling Ship, 1850
Thar She
Blows!... "The boat spun after him with almost the swiftness
of a top, now diving through the seas and tossing the spray,
and then lying still while the whale sounded."
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Entering
the Forbidden City of Mecca, 1853
"...a splendid
camel in front of me was shot through the heart." An intrepid
British explorer risks his life to enter the holy city of Mecca.
Life
on a Southern Plantation, 1854
"The plows at work, both with single
and double mule teams, were generally held by women, and
very well held, too." Life on a Mississippi plantation before
the Civil War
Return
of a Fugitive Slave, 1854
"...a detachment of infantry charged
upon the dense mass, at a run, with fixed bayonets." On the
eve of the Civil War, the return of a fugitive slave ignites
a near-riot in Boston.
Livingstone
Discovers Victoria Falls, 1855
The great explorer becomes the first
European to witness the "Smoke That Thunders"
Andrew Carnegie Becomes a Capitalist, 1856
“I showed them this check . . . none of us had ever received anything but from toil. A return from capital was something strange and new.” The world's richest man describes his transformation from worker to capitalist.
 Slave
Auction, 1859
"...The expression on the faces
of all who stepped on the block was always the same, and
told of more anguish than it is in the power of words to
express."
The
Trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868
The vote of one Senator saves the
President of the United States from removal from office
The
Ku Klux Klan, 1868
"I shook hands with Bob before they hanged him." A former slave describes his encounters with the KKK soon after the end of the Civil War
Stanley
Finds Livingstone, 1871
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
Building
the Brooklyn Bridge, 1871
"...a dreadful pain shot through both
my ears." Nothing like it had ever been attempted before:
join a "sandhog" working below the East River
The
Baseball Glove Comes to Baseball, 1875
"He confessed that he was a bit ashamed
to wear it..."
 The
Death of President Garfield, 1881
Who killed the President, his assassin
or his doctors?
A
Portrait of Thomas Edison
"I'm not a scientist. I am an inventor." An inside look at an inventor that changed our world.
College
Football, 1884
"There were no coaches, trainers, rubbers,
or even a water boy." A player describes the early days of
college football.
Death of a Child, 1890
"I found the patient on the top floor stretched upon two chairs. . ." Jacob Riis documents life in the New York City tenements.
Corbett
Knocks Out Sullivan, 1892
It was the "fight of the century" and
the 1st Heavyweight Championship fought with gloves.
Hobo,
1894: Hard Times in America
"'Thirty days,' said his Honor. . . The trial of that hobo had taken just about fifteen seconds." Thousands of unemployed take to the roads and railways of America as economic depression plagues the country. Join one of these hobos.
NEW!
Leaving Home for the "Promised Land", 1894
"The procession [to the station] resembled both a funeral and a triumph. The women wept over us." A young girl describes the bittersweet departure of her family for America.
America's First Automobile Race, 1895
"While still in the lead, the left front wheel struck a bad rut at such an angle that the steering arm was broken off." NASCAR, the Indy 500: it all started here. Ride along in America's first automobile race.
First
to Sail Around the World Alone, 1895-98
One of the greatest sea adventures
ever told.
The
United States Declares War on Spain, 1898
"(The President) broke down and cried
like a boy of thirteen." President McKinley reluctantly asks
Congress to declare a war that launches America along the
path to becoming a world power.
The
Rough Riders Storm San Juan Hill, 1898
The successful charge up an obscure
hill in Cuba during the Spanish-American War puts Theodore
Roosevelt on the path to the presidency.
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