The Thomas Jefferson National Memorial commemorates the life and ideology of founding father Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) via a statue and surrounding structure.
Rangers are available to answer questions during the day.
The Herbert Hoover National Historic Site consists of the cottage in which Hoover was born; the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum; the graves of Hoover and his wife, Lou Henry Hoover; 81-acres of tallgrass prairie; and sites from the period in which Hoover lived in the area. Hoover (1874-1964), lived in West Branch for the first nine years of his life. An orphan, he would eventually become the 31st President of the United States. The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum has a separate listing within this database.
The site offers a 12-minute introductory film; exhibits on Hoover's childhood, life, and U.S. history; approximately 3-hour and 45-minute guided field trips; self-guided field trips; guided tours of the Birthplace Cottage, Blacksmith Shop, 1853 Schoolhouse, and the Friends Meeting House where Hoover's parents worshiped; self-guided tours; period rooms; blacksmithing demonstrations; 1.7 miles of trails; guided prairie walks; Junior Ranger activities; research library access; an educator program; and picnic shelters. Wheelchairs are available for use on site. Reservations are required for educational field trips. The website offers a virtual tour, pre-visit orientation video, pre- and post-visit activity suggestions, curriculum guides, a lesson plan, and activities for the prairie walk.
The Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site contains an 18th-century stone church, a cemetery in use beginning 1704, and a portion of the Village Green on which the Election of 1773 took place. During this local election, Quakers were effectively barred from voting. The church itself served as a Revolutionary War hospital, following the 1776 Battle at Pell's Point. Topics addressed by the site include freedom of religion, freedom of the press, colonial life, and the events which led to the American Revolution.
The site offers exhibits, guided cemetery tours, guided church tours, and a 105-minute Revolutionary War program for students.
The Roger Williams National Memorial commemorates the life of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island and champion of religious freedom. The memorial is located in downtown Providence, RI, and consists of a landscaped park along with a visitor center.
The memorial offers guided tours, ranger-led activities, exhibits, and a short film of Roger William's life. The website offers visitor information and a brief history of the memorial and of Roger Williams. In order to contact the memorial via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial commemorates the famous sculpture at the top of Mount Rushmore, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The memorial offers ranger-led tours, self-guided tours, trails, a visitor center with displays and exhibits regarding the presidents and the creation of the sculpture, workshops, and outreach programs for local schools. The website offers visitor information, a history of the memorial, resources for teachers including lesson plans and curriculum guides, and information regarding upcoming events. In order to contact the memorial via email, use the "contact us" link located on the left side of the webpage.
The Boston National Historical Park interprets the pre- and early Revolutionary War history of the Boston area, as well as U.S. Navy history. Many of the sites at which rangers conduct programs are located along the Freedom Trail, which possesses a separate entry in this directory. Collections include more than 70,000 photographs and negatives, 13,000 architectural drawings, and shipyard records.
Between mid-April and November, the park offers 90-minute tours of the downtown portion of Boston's Freedom Trail. Lectures are offered at Faneuil Hall and the Bunker Hill Monument. Tours are offered of the World War II and Cold War destroyer, the USS Cassin Young. The park also offers a Freedom Trail slide show, exhibits, a 10 minute Naval Yard introductory video, Junior Ranger activities, 13 educational programs for students with pre-visit materials, and teacher workshops. The website offers a virtual tour of the USS Cassin Young, videos of Navy Yard structures which are not publicly accessible, suggested reading lists for students and teachers, and Web Ranger activities. The USS Cassin Young is not wheelchair accessible.
What was "Bleeding Kansas"?
"Bleeding Kansas" describes a period of civil unrest in Kansas Territory between 1854 and 1856.
After the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30’ parallel (except for the state of Missouri), Congress tried to maintain a balance between slave and free states in the Union. "Free" states did not permit slavery to exist within their borders, but this was rarely because they felt a commitment to equality between different racial groups. Instead, citizens in many free states feared that if slavery were permitted in their region, they would be unable to compete against agriculturalists who would use slave laborers to work in their fields. Most people in free states were happy to see slavery continue in the areas where it already existed—even those men and women who worked for wages in the North often feared if slaves were freed they would compete against them for their jobs. By the 1850s, supporting the idea of a "free" state more often than not meant supporting the idea that any expansion of the United States should benefit working white people over all others. Most citizens of slave states, on the other hand, believed that slavery should be permitted everywhere, and thought it unfair that they should be prevented from expanding their interests in the West like everyone else.
In 1853, these issues came to a head when the U.S. Senate took up the question of organizing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Nebraska was too far north to support the crops most commonly grown in slave-holding states, but Kansas was not. It did, however, exist north of the 36° 30´ line enshrined in the Missouri Compromise, which should have meant the territory was free. Southerners wanted slavery to be permitted in Kansas very badly, and some Northerners, feeling the country was in danger of tearing itself apart along sectional lines, wanted to find a means to compromise over the issue. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois negotiated a compromise whereby the citizens of Kansas would be able to choose for themselves if their territory should permit slavery to exist within its borders—a strategy called "popular sovereignty." This was affirmed in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which passed Congress in May 1854; the Missouri Compromise was thereby repealed.
The situation in Kansas rapidly became fraught with tension. Beyond the political commitments of those settlers who already lived in Kansas, there were people who lived outside the territory who sought to influence what happened within it. Slave-holding Missourians flooded into Kansas to cast illegal votes for a pro-slavery territorial legislature and Congressional representative. Northerners responded by traveling to the state—sometimes from as far away as Massachusetts—to help elect an anti-slavery legislature. President Pierce recognized the first, but not the second, and the stand-off between the two spilled over into armed conflict. After Congressional investigators declared, in 1856, that the 1854 elections were fraudulent—information on which the President refused to act—this conflict escalated, aided and abetted by Northerners and Southerners who sent money and arms to their allies. More than 55 people died as a result, and the period became known as "Bleeding Kansas."
While Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Daily Tribune, is popularly credited with inventing the term "Bleeding Kansas," the archives of his newspaper suggest differently. The Tribune's first reference to "Kansas, bleeding," came on June 16, 1856, in a report on the North American National Convention. There a Colonel Perry of Kansas reported that "Kansas, bleeding at every pore, would cast more votes indirectly for [the presidential candidate the convention settled upon] . . . than any other State in the Union.” (1) The Tribune's first mention of "bleeding Kansas" was in a poem by Charles S. Weyman, published in the newspaper on September 13, 1856:
Far in the West rolls the thunder—
The tumult of battle is raging
Where bleeding Kansas is waging
War against Slavery! (2)
The matter of whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state was not resolved until after the Civil War began. Despite the repeated attempts of Kansans to draft a state constitution amenable to all citizens of the territory, it was not until Southern states seceded from the Union and surrendered their seats in Congress that an anti-slavery constitution finally gained approval from the U.S. Senate.
Text of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854.
Territorial Kansas Online: A Primary Source Collection.
The Wyandotte Constitution, 1859 (ratified by Congress, 1861).
1 "Public Meetings. North American National Convention. Third Day." New York Daily Tribune, June 16, 1856.
2 "Fremont and Victory. The Prize Song By Charles S. Weyman." New York Daily Tribune. September 13, 1856.
A panel of prominent Massachusetts politicians reads from the letters of John and Abigail Adams.
Author Philip Dray looks at Benjamin Franklin's work as a scientist, particularly his work with lightning and electricity. Dray examines opposition and detraction that Franklin faced based on religious grounds—objections that he was interfering with the weapons of God—and compares Franklin's struggles with these detractors to the American struggle to define itself after the Revolutionary War. His presentation includes slides.
Audio and video options are available.
Producer Elizabeth Deane presents a "sneak preview" of her documentary American Experience: John and Abigail Adams, detailing the development of the relationship between the two, as revealed in their correspondence. The preview is followed by a panel discussion.
Audio and video options are available. The video is captioned, and a transcript is also provided.