Our American History Publications

Before European contact, native societies in the Americas were diverse and complex. With exploration and colonization came catastrophic exchanges of disease, cultures, and institutions like slavery that disrupted indigenous worldviews and ways of life.

European nations established their first permanent colonies in North America. The British dominated along the Atlantic coast, developing plantation economies based on cash crops and slavery in the South, and small farms and trade in the North. Self-rule and local traditions took root.

Competition for territory in the New World led to war, which gave way to revolution by American colonists seeking independence and democratic self-governance. After victory over Britain, the new United States struggled to establish stable political institutions and economic affairs under the Constitution.

The early republic grappled with questions of federal vs. state power, and push for greater democratic participation led to expansion of white male suffrage. Westward expansion and Indian removal reinforced US nationalism. Sectional divisions intensified over slavery.

Tensions over the expansion of slavery and states' rights erupted into civil war. The Union victory abolished slavery, but Reconstruction failed to secure equal rights for freed slaves in the South. Industrial capitalism transformed the economy but exacerbated social tensions.

Western settlement spurred economic growth but corporate power rose largely unchecked. Labor conflicts and economic strife led to political unrest in cities, even as new technologies spread through massive immigration. The nation edged towards imperialism on the world stage.

The Progressive Era responded to the social costs of industrialization, but greater global engagement also meant competition for empire. World wars plunged nations into disarray, ultimately remaking political boundaries and establishing American ascendancy as a superpower - even as the Great Depression created widespread hardship.

Prosperity and the Baby Boom raised hopes for social stability in the postwar years, but the Cold War and threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union fueled anxieties. Growing calls for civil rights and anti-war dissent further shook the status quo, as television and mass culture homogenized American life.

The rise of conservative politics promised national renewal but also intensified partisan divides. The end of the Cold War gave way to new global conflicts, even as emerging technologies, social media, and global trade wove the world closer together. Widening inequality and social fractures have fueled unrest, but diversity has also lifted culture.