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General History Links

Outline of American History - An Outline of American History is one of the oldest continuing publications of the United States Information Agency. The first edition (1949-50) was produced under the editorship of Francis Whitney, first of the State Department Office of International Information and later of the U.S. Information Agency. Alan Winkler, professor of history at Miami University (Ohio), wrote the post-World War II chapters for the current edition, and the entire volume has been extensively revised.

The U.S. History Cram Packet -   This is the web page that crams as much information as possible into the smallest amount of space as possible, and in the most coherent format... as possible; and it's ALL about US History. From Columbus "sailing the ocean blue" to Reagan's "Reagonomics," you'll find almost all you need to know. It's formated into a timeline that makes history easier to follow, easier to remember, and thus easier to learn. Made by a former AP US History student just like you!!!

American Memory - American Memory from the Library of Congress, is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

The Library of Congress Presents America's Story from America's Library - Organized by time period with brief descriptions of historical eras, biographies of famous Americans, and several other fun facts and activities.

Best of History Web Sites: US History - Organized by theme & time period - many primary documents.

Freedom: A History of Us - Come along on an exciting journey through This PBS special on Joy Hakim's story of freedom in America. Explore a webisode and see why the promise of freedom has attracted millions of people from all over the world to come to America. Hear for yourself why generations of men, women, and children have lived for, sacrificed for, and died for that freedom. It is a story that is still unfolding today. It is your story too.

Biography of America - Presents American history as a living narrative. You'll find a listing of key events of each historical period, a map relevant to the period, the transcript of the related video program, and a "Webography" - a set of annotated web links.

Inflation Calculator - It will calculate how much something cost adjusting for inflation. For example the $1,000 fine under the Fugitive Slave Act is equal to a $21,300 today.

American Cultural History: The 19th Century - Created by the Reference Librarians at Kingwood College Library, this site gives decade by decade coverage of the nineteenth century. Each decade includes a brief list of facts and a more detailed summary with the live links explaining key terms and happenings of the time period.

American Cultural History: The 20th Century - Created by the Reference Librarians at Kingwood College Library, this site gives decade by decade coverage of the twentieth century. Each decade includes a brief list of facts and a more detailed summary with the live links explaining key terms and happenings of the time period.

U.S. History Web Links from Houghton-Mifflin - A set of Internet links arranged by American historical era.

History News Network - HNN Features Articles and Op Eds by Historians from Both the Left and the Right

12 Things You Didn't Know about the Presidents

Primary Documents

Authentic History - A great collection of "pop culture" icons, including pictures, cartoons, diaries, movies, songs, primary documents, etc.

AP US History Web Links - An extensive collection of primary documents sorted by era/topic. Click on the eagle icon next to each topic to get a list of primary and secondary sources related to it.

Documents for the Study of American History - A large (though not very diverse) collection of primary documents, organized chronologically from 1400- present (mostly political documents.)

US Historical Documents - Another chronological list of links to primary documents, from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Teaching American History Documents Library - Several teachers have organized groups of primary documents by era & topic. There are several documents for each era, but it is not exhaustive - so it isn't overwhelming. A very nice collection.

The Avalon Project @ Yale University Law School - Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy

History Wired: A Few of Our Favorite Things - Approximately 450 objects from the Smithsonian's collections-from the significant (the patent for Bell's first telephone) to the less significant but interesting (a portrait of the first Breck girl). Background information is provided with each item.

Picture History - A searchable database of images in American history, plus feature articles telling "the story behind the pictures."

Famous Trials - A collection of information about famous trials throughout the history of the world, with a focus on the US (Sacco-Vanzetti Trial, Scopes "Monkey" Trial, Black Sox Scandal Trial, John Peter Zenger trial, OJ Simpson Trial, and many more.)

Our Documents - A web site sponsored by the federal government celebrating what are believed to be 100 of the most significant historical documents in the history of the United States.

Historical Census Data - Contains data for every census from 1790-1960.

Nineteenth Century America - An EXTENSIVE collection of links related to 19th century topics.

A collection of thematic maps organized in chronological order of U.S. History.

Links to US Documents - A collection of links to other sites that contain an abundance of primary documents. Some specialized collections - slave narratives, the Zimmerman telgram, and more!

Great American Speeches: 80 Years of American Oratory - This comprehensive site was created in conjunction with the five week airing of Great American Speeches on PBS television. Besides the speech archives section, which dates from pre-1900's - 1999, there are also challenge and trivia pages. Each speech is accompanied by a brief timeline to help the reader gain a better perspective of the period in which it was spoken.

Women in American History - Encyclopedia Britannica - From the editors of Britannica Online, this is a great place to look for background information on women in American history. The site includes primary documents in audio, video and written formats. There are also links to other women's history sites.

The American Pageant list of chronologically ordered primary documents. Not comprehensive, but some interesting stuff!

Digital History Fact Sheets - Click on a topic and a set of 6-10 or more short primary documents appears!

Primary Document Analysis Worksheet - from the United States National Archives

American Primary Documents from HistoryCentral.com

 

Libraries

District 214 Libraries / Arlington Heights Library / Rolling Meadows Library / Mount Prospect Library / Schaumburg Library / Harper College Library / Palatine Library

Supreme Court

Supreme Court Homepage

OYEZ - US Supreme Court Multimedia - Contains a search engine of Historical Supreme Court cases with easy-to-read synopses.

Important Supreme Court Cases - A chronological listing of the most important Supreme Court cases presented in timeline fashion

Supreme Court Cases for AP Review

Legal Information Institute - Comprehensive information about the Supreme Court and its decisions dating from 1990; 600 historic decisions are also provided.

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Full Text of Supreme Court Decisions

Summaries of the ACLU's Most Important Supreme Court Victories

Summaries of 20 Important Supreme Court Cases

Writing & Study Skills Help

Mr. Thorburn's Top Ten Tips of AP US History Writing / Mr. Thorburn's DBQ Slideshow, Part I / Mr. Thorburn's DBQ Cheat Sheet

Notetaking & History Essay Guide - Gives some good tips on taking notes from texts and lectures, and defines and gives examples and organizational hints for the "9 types of history essays."

How to Prepare for the AP US DBQ - from another teacher's website. Hints and tips for writing a DBQ, along with a standard example rubric.

How to Analyze the Essay Prompt - An excellent slide show put together by another APUS teacher somewhere with some good tips on how to handle an AP essay.

How To Write a Thesis - An excellent slide show put together by another APUS teacher somewhere with some good tips on how to write an AP thesis.

A+ Guide to Research & Writing - A listing of over 5,000 web sites describing world wide holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar.

100 Words That All High School Graduates And Their Parents Should Know - The quality of a person's vocabulary has a direct effect on his or her success in college and in the workplace. In response to parents' misgivings over the quality of their children's education, the editors of The American HeritageÆ College Dictionary have compiled a list of 100 words they recommend each high school graduate should know.

Hints for Academic Writing

US History Review Timelines

History of the Right to Vote in the U.S. - Timeline of changes to voting qualifications from colonial times to the passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.

Women's Rights Timeline in the United States - Traces the development of womens' rights from the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 to laws and court decisions of the 1980's and 90's.

African American History Timeline

Political Parties throughout US History - Summarizes major and important third party US political parties from the Federalists through Reagan's New Right. Summarizes political platforms and major rivalries well.

Political Parties of America - A brief timeline

Political Parties/Elections Timeline - Click on any date and get results of that year's presidential election and click on any political party for an abstract of its platform. An awesome site!!

American Presidents Timeline - See how presidents have shaped various major historical events.

American Banking & Monetary Policy Timeline - Having trouble understanding the 1st and 2nd BUS or the Federal Reserve Bank? Check out this timeline!

Timeline of American Diplomatic History - Provided by the United States Department of State

A History of American Agricultural - 1776 to 1990

A History of American Transportation

American War Costs - Tallies the human and financial costs of America's military conflicts.

Tariff HistoryTimeline (could it get any more exciting?)

Illinois History

Historic Illinois - A guide to historic places in different regions of Illinois. Maybe a good place to look for some place to send a postcard from!!

Illinois Historic Preservation Society - The home of state historic sites.

Colleges, Scholarships, Etc.

AP Credit Policy Info - A database of most U.S. colleges and universities with links to their official policies regarding acceptance of passing AP scores for credit.

FastWeb - FastWEB is the largest online scholarship search available, with 600,000 scholarships representing over one billion in scholarship dollars. It provides students with accurate, regularly updated information on scholarships, grants, and fellowships suited to their goals and qualifications, all at no cost to the student.

American Studies / AP US History / Scholastic Bowl / RMHS / District 214
Last updated 26 February 2007