Historical Research Library

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, 1788 (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Federalist No. 51, 1788

One of 85 essays advocating the ratification of the Constitution, providing insight into the different branches of government, particularly the importance of checks and balances and the separation of powers

Key Document

Thomas Jefferson (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Thomas Jefferson on Manumitting Slaves, 1789

Letter sent from Paris reflecting on freeing slaves—revealing his conflicting beliefs on liberty and equality amid the revolution

Supporting Document

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or, Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, by Olaudah Equiano, 1789 (1809 edition) (Courtesy of Burns Library, Boston College)

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, 1789

Autobiography detailing Olaudah Equiano’s enslavement, his journey to freedom, and fight against the slave trade

Key Document

Excerpt from the first page of Washington's First Inaugural Address (National Archives)

George Washington’s First Inaugural Address, 1789

Precedent-setting speech that emphasized national unity, civic duty, and the importance of the Constitution, which set the tone for his presidency

Key Document

First Bank of the United States (Library of Congress)

Debate on a National Bank, 1790–1791

Intense deliberations over Hamilton’s proposal for a central bank—highlighting the federal government vs. state government power struggle

Event

Detail from the Bill of Rights. (National Archives)

Bill of Rights, 1791

The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution—hard-fought additions that protect some individual liberties and limit government power

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

The Petition of the People of Colour of the State [of South Carolina],” April 30, 1794

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries a very small percentage of the Black population in South Carolina was not enslaved. They could not vote, did not have access to the same legal rights as White people, and were subject to special taxes, among other abuses. This petition sought to address and have rescinded one of those abuses, a poll tax aimed at free Black people.

Supporting Document