Kidnapping of Free People of Color

Abolitionist Elisha Tyson wrote to Congress with details on several kidnapping cases of free African Americans in the North who were sold into slavery under the guise of the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act. Tyson argued that federal legislation was necessary to address the problem.

The Documents Behind Twelve Years a Slave

Students can see part of Solomon Northup’s story, told in his 1853 autobiography and the new movie, Twelve Years a Slave, in documents found in the National Archives.

Access the Writings of the Founding Fathers on Founders Online

Founders Online, a brand new online tool, is a searchable archive of the correspondence and other writings of six of the Founding Fathers.

Resources for Teaching about the Constitution

September 17th is Constitution Day! Here are resources from the National Archives and some of our partner organizations for teaching about the Constitution.

The DocsTeach App for iPad

The DocsTeach App extends learning activities from the DocsTeach website to your students' iPads. Using the app, they can choose a topic, such as “Civics & Government” or “Postwar U.S. 1945–early 1970s,” and challenge themselves with a DocsTeach activity, interacting with stories, events, and ideas of the past. The activities are all based on primary source documents from the … Continue reading The DocsTeach App for iPad