The Founders' Library

Antebellum Era

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The Historic Documents in this set cover the period from 1791 to 1860.  During this period, the American people began their experiment in republican self-government under the U.S. Constitution.  Over time, sectional divisions widened over the issue of slavery—culminating in the election of President Abraham Lincoln, Southern secession, and the outbreak of the Civil War.
 

Selected by

Laura F. Edwards

Class of 1921 Bicentennial Professor in the History of American Law and Liberty, and Professor of History at Princeton University

Kurt Lash

E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Richmond

Antebellum Era Documents

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The Constitution