Sojourner Truth, born Isabella Baumfree, escaped from slavery leaving four of her five children when she fled. Her previous owner tried to illegally sell her five-year-old son, so she filed a lawsuit and won custody. She dedicated her life to civil rights activism for black Americans.

On November 19th, 1863, Abraham Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the national cemetery. In less than 275 words, Lincoln eloquently spoke to a crowd of 15,000 people, but his words would go on to reverberate throughout American history.

Beginning in the later half of the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution in America was a major shift to machine-aided, assembly-line production in factories. The Industrial Revolution saw wealth accumulate in the pockets of industrialists, while working conditions and wages remained low for the majority.

Established by an act of Congress on March 3rd, 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was conceived as a temporary agency to last the remainder of the war plus one year to follow. The intent of the act was to help the four million newly-freed blacks transition from slavery to a free-labor economy.

The Mayflower Compact was a governing document created by the Mayflower passengers and Pilgrims once their contract with the Virginia Company was believed to be nullified. It was signed on November 11th, 1620, the day the Mayflower made landfall.

Wampanoag chief Metacom, or King Philip—fed up with continued colonial expansion onto Indian land—forcefully defended his people’s territory in what became known as King Philip’s War, leading to attacks on English colonies throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine.

The Articles of Confederation established a central government among the thirteen states but quickly revealed weaknesses such as no authority to demand money or troops from individual states and more.