Shaping the Political Landscape Featured Places

Parks

Since 1916, the American people have entrusted the National Park Service with the care of their national parks. With the help of volunteers and park partners, we safeguard these more than 400 places and share their stories with more than 275 million visitors every year. Find a few of those stories here and then Find a Park to find more of all Americans' stories.

Independence National Historical Park: Explore the places associated with the birth of the nation. Learn more about Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. There are more than a dozen other historic sites and museums in the park.

The Civil War: From 1861 to 1865, the American union was broken as brother fought brother in a Civil War that remains a defining moment in our nation's history. Its causes and consequences, including the continuing struggle for civil rights for all Americans, reverberate to this day. From the battlefields to the homefront, the cost of the war was steep...its lessons eternal.

César E. Chávez National Monument: Under the leadership of César E. Chávez and others such as Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong, along with support from millions of Americans, the farm worker movement joined forces with other reform movements to achieve unprecedented successes that greatly improved working and living conditions and wages for farm workers. During the 1970s the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) grew and expanded from its early roots as a union for farm workers to also become a national voice for the poor and disenfranchised.

Civil Rights in America: To live freely and participate in society is a right many take for granted. Achieving and maintaining those civil rights have been a struggle for different groups throughout U.S. history. Civil rights mean more than the protests of the 1950s and 1960s and reach beyond racial and ethnic groups. Today, the struggle has gone from an issue of racial equality to equality for all and new voices are engaging in the discussion, helping to define who we are as a people and a nation.

Other Places

The National Park Service cares for America's more than 400 national parks…and works in almost every one of her 3,141 counties. We are proud that tribes, local governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individual citizens ask for our help in revitalizing their communities, preserving local history, celebrating local heritage, and creating close to home opportunities for kids and families to get outside, be active, and have fun. Find a few selected important places outside the parks here and explore the links for more. Then explore what you can do to share your own stories and the places that matter to you.

The Harada House:The Harada House on Lemon Street in Riverside, California was the focus of a landmark court case brought by the State of California against Jukichi Harada, a Japanese immigrant living in Riverside. The case tested the constitutionality of laws preventing immigrants, primarily from Japan, from owning property in California.Local advocates worked to preserve the house and keep this Civil Rights story alive.

Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area: This National Heritage Area was enacted by Congress and signed by the President on May 10, 2008.Forty-two central Illinois counties work together to preserve, interpret, and promote the heritage and culture of the area, in the context of Abraham Lincoln's life in the state of Illinois.

Explore Cahokia Mounds, one of the greatest urban political centers of North America. Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site represents a truly unique example of the complex social and economic development of pre-contact indigenous Americans.

The American Presidents Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary aids visitors in exploring the lives and contributions of 43 American Presidents. Experience the places they knew during their lifetimes and that honor their memories after their deaths.