U.S. Social History - What Caused the Civil War?: Recommended Resources:

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) of the Works Progress Administration, later renamed Work Projects Administration (WPA).

This collection consists of 105 library books and manuscripts, totalling approximately 8,700 pages drawn principally from the Law Library and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, with a few from the General Collections. he documents comprise an assortment of trials and cases, reports, arguments, accounts, examinations of cases and decisions, proceedings, journals, a letter, and other works of historical importance.

The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress presents the papers of the nineteenth-century African American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and then risked his freedom by becoming an outspoken antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher. The online collection, containing approximately 7,400 items (38,000 images), spans the years 1841-1964, with the bulk of the material dating from 1862 to 1865. Many of Douglass’s earlier writings were destroyed when his house in Rochester, New York, burned in 1872.

The papers of Millard Fillmore (1800-1874), educator, U.S. representative from New York, vice president, and thirteenth president of the United States, contain approximately thirty-five items spanning the years 1839-1925, with the bulk dating from 1839 to 1870. The collection includes correspondence relating primarily to political issues such as slavery, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act, John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and congressional politics.

Browse these hand-selected primary source documents from the Library of Congress collection, ranging from as early at 1850 .

Latin provides individual subscriptions to digital New York Times for all students, faculty, and staff. Once you have created your account, you will have unlimited free access to the New York Times archives via the TimesMachine. Browse headlines or search for specific stories via the search box.

Friend of Man is one of the most significant and little studied newspapers documenting early anti-slavery and other reform movements. Search Cornell University's archive that includes 283 issues from 1836-1842.

Select "Expansion and Reform" from the "Refine by Historical Era" drop-down menu to browse over 400 documents from the expansion and reform era of U.S. history available from the National Archives. You may also search by keyword or phrase for a more specific search.

Use menu of left to navigate to documents of best fit. Some documents are hosted by Fordham other will link you to a outside collection.

HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Search for documents via keyword, or browse collections created by university partners by clicking "collections" in the top menu bar.

Browse this set of documents about the cotton gin and it's impact on slavery.

Select "Advance Search" to search using more than one keywords. Also consider using the date limiting feature in this database to target newspaper articles from 1820-1860.

Use this database to browse topic centers on the Abolitionist Movement and/or the Underground Railroad to access, essays, biographies, maps, and +400 primary sources.

Select "Daily Life During the Early National Period" from the Daily Life in America box on the right to browse articles, biographies, maps, and primary source documents.

Perform a keyword search or browse the "Race, Gender, and Diversity" sub group to find hand selected primary source options on this topic.

This archive of Chicago Tribune only goes back to 1849 -- providing 9 years of available primary sources for this project.

To access the primary sources in this collection, perform a keyword search or select from the subjects list, including, Anti-slavery literature, justification (ethics), pro-slavery literature, etc... Please note: many of the sources included are from books, so be patient in browsing your results. It will likely pay off in the end.

Search for the following Topic pages that will contain valuable primary & secondary sources: Slavery & the Antebellum South, Abolition & the Underground Railroad, Compromise of 1850, John Brown, Plantations, Abraham Lincoln, Free African Americans, and William Lloyd Garrison.