Over the course of his life, James Madison was a Delegate to the Continental and Confederation Congresses, a U.S. Representative, and the fourth President of the United States. This month’s Edition for Educators highlights materials on the History, Art & Archives website about the life, career, and legacy of James Madison.
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Before he became the first President of the United States, George Washington was a young commander in the Virginia military during the French and Indian War, a Delegate to the Continental Congress, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and President of the Constitutional Convention. This month’s Edition for Educators highlights materials on the History, Art & Archives website about the life, career, and legacy of George Washington.
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The upheaval of World War II spurred widespread change in the United States. Social, political, and economic shifts reverberated throughout the country and new allies and adversaries emerged abroad. It was a period marked by changes and challenges that impacted the way Americans lived, worked, and engaged with each other. The civil rights movement, the space race, and the Cold War shaped the decades following the end of the war.
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Madison, who is widely credited as the architect of America’s system of direct House elections, openly wondered if the new government would succeed given that the states seemed to struggle to elect their lawmakers. Although the House’s system of direct elections is long familiar to Americans living in the twenty-first century, the practice was brand new for many eighteenth-century Americans—including Madison.
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When William S. Moore, a visitor to the Capitol from Kentucky, fired a gun near the House Chamber doors on April 23, 1844, wounding Capitol Police Officer John L. Wirt, 20 years of conspiracies and resentment over the election of 1824 collided with a culture of political violence that had grown increasingly routine on Capitol Hill.
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On April 23, 1844, as the House sat in the Committee of the Whole to debate a tariff measure, the presiding officer recognized John White, a Whig from Kentucky, who had served as Speaker of the House in the prior Congress. White quickly veered off script, and the chamber quickly spun out of control. As chamber officials rushed to restore order, a gun shot rang out at the rear of the chamber and a Capitol Police officer was left gravely injured.
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Art on August 11, 2022
The story of how the Appropriations Committee ended up with two 19th-century portraits of chairs entwines itself with the career of the woman who created them, Adele Fassett.
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Fifty years ago, on June 17, 1972, officers with the Metropolitan police department apprehended five men during a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee located in the Watergate complex along the Potomac River in Washington, DC. The arrests set off a chain of events that ended with the resignation of Richard M. Nixon as President in August 1974. This Edition for Educators highlights the role of the House of Representatives during the Watergate scandal and its aftermath.
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The following maps capture three of the nation’s darkest moments with striking and sometimes shocking images.
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Art on August 30, 2021
On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson. This first-ever presidential impeachment captured the public’s attention, and mass-produced images—the up-and-coming visual media—fed the hunger for details.
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In response to many reference inquiries received about the history of impeachment, this Edition for Educators highlights some of the resources available on the History, Art & Archives website.
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On January 6, 1969, Representative James O’Hara of Michigan took a seat on the House Floor for what seemed like a routine day of business. Since the late nineteenth century, the Electoral College count had occurred every four years without incident. This year, however, would be different.
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