Historical Research Library

Discover the people, events, and key documents that shaped the Founding Era. 

Singers and dancers focused on Chris Jackson playing George Washington

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Paul Revere, "The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770," Boston, 1770 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Boston Massacre, 1770

A “massacre” of civilians in Boston by British troops fueled colonial resentment of British rule

Event
The Farmer Refuted: or, A More Impartial and Comprehensive View of the Dispute between Great-Britain and the Colonies</em> (James Rivington: New York, 1775) (Courtesy New-York Historical Society)

The Farmer Refuted, 1775

A defense of American colonial rights against British tyranny secretly written by Alexander Hamilton—fueling revolutionary sentiment

Key Document
“Bloody Butchery by the British Troops,” broadside by Ezekiel Russell, 1775 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Battles of Lexington and Concord, 1775

The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War in 1775—marked by confrontations between colonial militia and British troops

Event
Washington at Valley Forge, F. Heppenheimer, 1853 (Library of Congress)

Winter at Valley Forge, 1777–1778

The Continental Army faced extreme hardships at Valley Forge during the harsh winter of 1777–1778—strengthening their resilience and unity

Event
“Washington Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland, Maryland,” attributed to Frederick Kemmelmeyer, 1795 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Whiskey Rebellion, 1794

Pennsylvania farmers violently resisted a federal whiskey tax—illustrating the tensions between frontiersmen and the new government’s authority

Event
A New Display of the United States, by Amos Doolittle, 1799 (Library of Congress)

Presidential Election of 1800

A fierce contest between John Adams, Charles Pinckney, Thomas Jefferson, and Aaron Burr that was marked by party polarization and scandal—testing the peaceful transfer of power

Event
A 19th-century engraving of the Hamilton-Burr Duel (Granger)

Hamilton-Burr Duel, 1804

A fatal confrontation between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr that stemmed from political and personal animosities and shaped American political history

Event
John Adams, by John Trumbull, 1793 (National Portrait Gallery)

John Adams

A leading proponent of independence, a congressman, a diplomat, and the second President of the United States

Person