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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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
“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
Alexander Hamilton, John Trumbull Copy after: Giuseppe Ceracchi 1806, National Portrait Gallery

Alexander Hamilton

A poor immigrant from the Caribbean who became a key figure in the Revolution and in establishing the US government

Person
Okieriete "Oak" Onaodowan as James Madison. Photo by Josh Lehrer using a camera lens from the mid-1800s.

Hercules Mulligan

Irish immigrant who befriended Hamilton and served as a spy for Washington in British-held New York City

Person
Thomas Paine, by Romney Illman & Sons (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Thomas Paine

Author of “Common Sense” and “The Rights of Man” who was influential in the American and French Revolutions

Person