Academic Resources

History

History does not exist for us until and unless we dig it up, interpret it, and put it together. Then the past comes alive, or, more accurately, it is revealed for what it has always been - a part of the present.
Frederick W. Turner III, 1971

History is the study of the human past. Historians study records of conditions or events of a particular time and place. The United States of America is at once a very new nation and a very old nation. The first settlers - Asian hunters and nomads - reached North America about 30,000 years ago. However, the United States of America did not come into being until 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. The history of the United States is the story of many different peoples who together compose the United States of America. Since the first Europeans arrived in 1492, millions of people from many different countries have entered the United States and made the country their new home.

Listed here are resource collections on specific fields of study within American history.

• An Outline of American History
• Portrait of the USA: Toward the City on a Hill
• United States History - Links from INFO-USA

Other links:

• Chronology of Historical Documents - From University of Oklahoma
• Civil War Center - Resources from Louisiana State University
• Civil Rights in the U.S. - Webportal from State Department
• Civil Rights Overview - Links from INFO-USA
• The Constitution of the United States
• Declaration of Independence
• Famous Speeches - Words that Changed the World
• Library of Congress - Including the American Memory Collection