Government Studies

An engraved illustration of The Custom House in New York, which was in use from 1799 to 1815. The neoclassical building features a grand portico with columns and a triangular pediment, surrounded by a fenced courtyard. In the foreground, a lively street scene depicts men and women in period attire engaging in conversation, a horse-drawn cart, and individuals carrying goods. The engraving is credited to W.M. Aikman and Wm. Rollinson, and it was published for the Society of Iconophiles in 1906.

"Tinkering the Tariff": Uncovering Tariff Debates in Historical Newspapers, Imprints, and Government Documents

Tariff: "a tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports" per Oxford Languages. It seems simple on the surface. It has never been. A simple search using Readex AllSearch and...

Opening ballot boxes (LOC). Bain News Service, publisher. [between ca. 1915 and ca. 1920]. https://flic.kr/p/ANNMmc

The Electoral College: How One Senator from Indiana Almost Brought It Down

Much like Black Friday and spray cheese, the electoral college is a uniquely American invention. Surprisingly, though, unlike Americans' undying love of discount TVs and processed cheese product, the...

Cesare Dell’Acqua, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“Our rulers bide their time…”: The Monroe Doctrine and the Mexican Empire

December 23, 2023, marked the 200th anniversary of the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine has ebbed and flowed in the American public’s awareness throughout two centuries, often dormant, but resurgent when...

image of the U.S. Constitution, "We the People"

“The Exponent of Rebellion”: Examining the 14th Amendment, Section 3 across the U.S. Congressional Serial Set

Just over 155 years ago, on July 9, 1868, the second of the three Reconstruction Amendments was adopted. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution speaks to citizenship, legislative apportionment, and...

Announcing ‘Foundations of American Government’ and ‘The Rise of American Politics’: Explore the evolution of American democracy

Readex is pleased to announce two new digital historical collections supporting the study of early American government and politics: The Shaping of America: Foundations of American Government and The...

“Choose your goal, and success is yours…Follow it, even though you may never reach it.”: Lloyd Gaines and the Case Against the University of Missouri

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education and declared state laws establishing “separate but equal” public schooling to be unconstitutional...

Voting in America: New 1-Minute Video

Free and fair elections are the foundation of American democracy. Yet the path to securing voting rights for all Americans has been long, has at times taken us backwards, and continues to face...

“The Caucasian will not tolerate the Mongolian”: The Racism of Chinese Exclusion in the United States, 1848-1911

The history of Chinese immigration to the United States, from the Gold Rush to World War II, is uniquely the one instance in which American law has specifically barred an entire national or ethnic...

“Black Representative of a White Idea”: John Willis Menard, 1868 Representative-Elect from Louisiana

A person’s social standing has much to do with where they sit, or whether they’re even allowed to do so. During U.S. civil rights protests in the 1960s, Rosa Parks and other Black citizens went to...

‘Men of Meanness Preferred’: The 1798 Sedition Trial of Vermont Representative Matthew Lyon

Less than three months after President John Adams signed the Sedition Act into law on July 14, 1798, Vermont Congressman Matthew Lyon was accused of violating it. On July 31, 1798, Lyon published a...

Crash of the Titans: Copper and Ice Speculation Leads to the Panic of 1907 and the Creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System

Ice is a remarkable substance, solid yet transparent, alternately useful and vexatious in cold climates, marvelous in tropical ones, made of water yet it floats. The arrival of ice in Calcutta, India...

A black-and-white photograph from 1917 depicting a group of women suffragists picketing outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The women are holding banners advocating for women's right to vote. The image captures the determination and peaceful protest of the suffrage movement during that era.

Women’s Suffrage in the U.S.: The Long Fight for Passage of the 19th Amendment

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on the account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by...

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