African American Life and Resistance Before the Civil War
Explore enslaved and free Black life before the Civil War, including family, religion, escape, abolitionism and resistance to slavery.
Anglo-American Civilisation
Articles on Anglo-American civilisation, from the Reformation in the British Isles to modern Britain, the United States, politics, society and culture.
Reform Movements in Antebellum America
Explore abolitionism, temperance, education reform, utopian communities and women’s rights in the United States before the Civil War.
Jeffersonian America: Expansion, Embargo and the Road to War
Explore Jeffersonian America, from the election of 1800 and Louisiana Purchase to the Embargo Act and the causes of the War of 1812.
The American Revolution: Causes, Independence and Legacy
Explore the causes, major battles and consequences of the American Revolution, from British taxation to independence and the Treaty of Paris.
The Road to the American Civil War, 1850–1861
Discover how the Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, Dred Scott, John Brown and the election of 1860 led the United States into civil war.
Scotland: the Road to Independence
In August 2009 the SNP announced a Referendum Bill to hold a referendum on the issues of Scottish independence in November 2010.
The American Civil War: Causes, Battles and Consequences
Explore the causes, major battles, emancipation and consequences of the American Civil War, from Fort Sumter to Appomattox and Reconstruction.
Organized Crime: Repression and Censorship
John Edgar Hoover launched a war on Organized Crime: creation of the Bureau of Investigation, the Prohibition Bureau, and the Bureau of Identification
Evolution of Organized Crime
Trace the evolution of organized crime after Prohibition, from gangster decline to legal businesses, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and federal investigations.
Organized Crime : Expression and Repression
Explore links between organized crime and cinema, from ethnic mobility and Chicago beer wars to gangster films, censorship, violence, and realism.
Organized Crime and the Prohibition
Organized crime was considered a kind of un-American activity. Since more gangsters were ethnics calling them “un-American” was a way of…
Organized Crime in America
Study organized crime in America from 1929 to 1951: Prohibition, gangster films, censorship, Mafia myths, violence, bribery, and immigration.
O’Sullivan’s Manifest Destiny: Meaning and Legacy
Analyse John L. O’Sullivan’s Manifest Destiny, its religious and political roots, and its role in Texas, Oregon and the Mexican-American War.
Life on Southern Plantations: Slavery and Resistance
Explore the daily lives, forced labour, families, culture and resistance of enslaved people on plantations in the antebellum American South.
American Society in the Early Nineteenth Century
Explore American society from 1800 to 1850 through democracy, slavery, industrialisation, religion, westward expansion and social reform.
Reconstruction After the American Civil War
Explore Reconstruction after the Civil War, from emancipation and constitutional reform to Black political participation, white violence and Jim Crow.
Antebellum South: Society, Slavery and Secession
Explore the antebellum South, its slave economy, social hierarchy, political ideology and the events that led to secession and the Civil War.
North and South Before the American Civil War
Compare the North and South before the Civil War, from industry and slavery to westward expansion, political compromises and secession.
Westward Expansion: America’s Road to the Pacific
Explore American westward expansion, from the Louisiana Purchase and Oregon Trail to the Mexican War, railroads and Indigenous dispossession.
America’s Years of Growth: From Monroe to Jackson
Explore American growth from 1815 to 1840 through westward settlement, the Market Revolution, Jacksonian democracy and Indigenous removal.
The New American Nation: Constitution and Early Republic
Explore how the United States replaced the Articles of Confederation, adopted the Constitution and built its federal government from 1783 to 1803.
Puritanism and Expansionism in Early America
Explore Puritan beliefs, colonial New England and the links between religious mission, American exceptionalism and territorial expansion.
USA: Birth of a Nation — From Independence to the Constitution
How independence, war, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution transformed thirteen colonies into the United States.
The American Colonies: Religion, Politics and Self-Government
Explore religion, colonial assemblies, self-government, slavery and the limits of liberty across British North America before 1763.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688: Causes and Legacy
Explore the Dutch invasion of 1688, James II’s fall, the Bill of Rights, Scotland’s Claim of Right and the Williamite War in Ireland.
English Expansionism: From the British Isles to the Atlantic Empire
Trace English expansionism from Wales and Ireland to Atlantic colonisation, mercantilism, slavery, India and the imperial crisis after 1763.
The Reformation in the British Isles: Causes and Legacy
Explore the Reformation in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, from Henry VIII and John Knox to religious dissent and its political legacy.
Inequalities in Britain today
In its 1997 General Election Manifesto, New Labour struck a chord among electors after 18 years of Conservative Government.
The Thatcher Years : the individual and society
Explore the Margaret Thatcher years through individualism, society, market reform, class conflict, state power, and Britain’s political transformation.
Inequality and Gender
Explore gender inequality in Britain, from Victorian separate spheres and legal reforms to suffrage, employment, feminism, and equal pay debates.
Inequality and Race
Explore race inequality in Britain, from Notting Hill and immigration laws to Race Relations Acts, Enoch Powell, Brixton, and the Scarman Report.
The Affluent Society : poverty rediscovered?
Post-war Britain is characterised by Butskellism, a hybrid word formed from the Conservative (Butler) and Labour (Gaitskell) Chancellors of the Exchequer.
The Welfare State: an end to poverty and inequality ?
Wartime hardships, national solidarity and the acceptance of an increased role for the State led to the need for durable change in social and health policies.
The Beveridge Report: a Revolution?
It had been thought William Beveridge would just tidy up the existing schemes but in fact, he came up with a brand-new scheme.
More electoral inequalities : the Road to Female Suffrage
Explore the road to female suffrage in Britain, from Victorian gender roles and legal reforms to suffragists, the WSPU, and voting rights.
Ante Bellum, Inter Bella : Legislation and the Depression
Explore interwar Britain through Liberal reforms, unemployment, the Depression, poverty surveys, regional divides, and the harsh means test.
Electoral inequalities in Victorian England: the Road to Male Suffrage
Eventually, after a long struggle (The Peterloo Massacre in 1819), the First Reform Act was passed in 1832, which resulted in an extension of male suffrage.
Victorian philanthropy in 19th century England
Charity was widespread during the 19th century though the actual amount distributed is difficult to estimate.
The Poor Law Amendment Act (1834)
The aim was to dissuade all but the very hopeless from seeking assistance since poverty was the fault of the individual and should be punished.
Scotland: the State, the Nation, Home Rule, and Devolution
Define Scotland’s state, nation, Home Rule and devolution, from imagined communities to the Scotland Act and electoral systems.
The Scottish Parliament
Explore the Scottish Parliament, from Labour’s devolution reforms and the Scotland Act to tuition fees, public opinion, and independence debates.
The rise of the Scottish National Party (SNP)
Trace the rise of the Scottish National Party, from early nationalism and Home Rule movements to political breakthroughs and devolution debates.
Scottish Home Rule
Explore Scottish Home Rule from Victorian autonomy debates to Irish Home Rule, nationalist organisations, and the creation of the SNP in 1934.
The Act of Union of 1707
Explore the Act of Union of 1707, from Darien and succession crises to the Treaty of Union, Scotland’s institutions, and Great Britain’s creation.